Berkshire Cuts 105 Jobs, Shuts Paper Bought by Buffett

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), which has purchased more than 60 newspapers in the past year, said it was closing the Manassas News & Messenger amid a review of operations acquired this year from Media General Inc.

Job cuts include 33 employees of the News & Messenger, which is published five days a week and has a circulation of 10,000, according to a letter posted on a website tied to the newspaper. Another 72 positions will be eliminated, mostly corporate staff added as part of the Media General deal.

Berkshire didn’t “see a long-term viable way to maintain a daily news operation here,” Doug Hiemstra, chief executive officer of the World Media Enterprises unit, said in the letter. “Business conditions drove us to this decision.”

Buffett, 82, has said that newspapers with local readerships could withstand an advertising slump. The News & Messenger, which traces its history to 1869, serves a northern Virginia suburb and faces competition from other newspapers, including the Washington Post. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-14/berkshire-cuts-105-jobs-shuts-paper-bought-by-buffett.html

[MineralMan]

1. It's sad to see newspapers die.

Very sad. The Internet has killed a lot of newspapers and, as much as I use the Internet, I still read the morning St. Paul Pioneer Press each morning for news about my area. It's doing OK, and subscription numbers are up, but the paper itself is shrinking in size. I don't know how long it's going to last. I will be sad when it's gone.

[marmar]

2. I used to be an avid newspaper reader (in that I had to have a copy in my hands) .....

..... but now, I admit I read pretty much everything online.

[MineralMan]

3. I still insist on my morning paper. My wife and I spend about an hour

and a half every morning with the news and the newspapers, along with some good chat time. We both work from our home, and don't talk much during the work day, since our offices are in different parts of the house. We're at our desks at 8 AM, and generally quit at 4 PM. Then, we have an evening for more conversation, along with dinner and some more news. We're sort of news hounds.

Regional papers, like the one in Manassas, are having an especially tough time. The DC papers are their main competition with newspaper readers, and are tough to beat, except for purely local news. The DC media has a long reach in Virginia. The Twin Cities here in MN are down to two daily papers, now, and more local papers are gone, with only weeklies to take their place for the outlying metro area. Eventually, there will be just a single daily to serve the entire region, I'm sure. Odds are it will be the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, since it's experiencing growth, while the Star Tribune in Minneapolis is struggling somewhat. I expect, though, that by about 2020, they'll both be gone.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Many of the local Newspapers

forgot about their readership. When companies like Gannett were allowed to gobble up tons of the locals,the format and Editorial page changes were over whelming to most. The Media companies of today are nothing more than propaganda rags for the GOP. Blue states used to read most of the papers by the numbers. That was part and parcel of the Nixon strategies to push the GOP majority for life. Now these same folks are having comin to Jesus moment. Yes,guys,elections do matter!!!