Henry Blogett draws a grim pictures of the Times’ unhappy situation.
Specifically, the company must deliver $400 million to lenders in May of 2009, six months from now. The company has only $46 million of cash on hand, and its operations will likely begin consuming this meager balance this quarter or next. The company has been shut out of the commercial paper market, but has a $366 million short-term credit line remaining that it entered into several years ago, when the industry was strong. It has not yet drawn this cash down, and given the current environment and the trends at the company, we would not take for granted that it will be able to do so.
The New York Times is in discussions with its lenders about the May payment, and management thinks it will be able to work something out (“We expect that we will be able to manage our debt and credit obligations as they mature.” Note the use of the word “manage” as opposed to “meet.”)
So sad. Maybe they can sell the paper to Murdoch.
Read the whole thing.
Scott D
Why would News Corp want to acquire the NY Times? They already own the WSJ, which is in a much better position to take over the title of leading US newspaper. The Times has made SO many bad decisions over the years that they deserve to die.
On the other hand, it appears that we are headed for a vampire economy like Japan where weak, misguided, non-competitive behemoths who pay their dues to those in office are allowed to suck the lifeblood from the healthy and productive.
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