Wayne, my sense is that it is cheaper to deliver news over the web. For example, I could start a newspaper over the Web, but not a print one. That's simplistic but how I look at it.
You've touched on why the newspaper business has ceased "being" a Buffet business and morphed into a potential cigar butt business. Uncertainty. We suddenly don't know what the newspaper business will look like in say five years. We can make some educated guesses, but yours is as good as mine. For example, you don't "pay" to read this columnist. You may look at some ads, but you get the column for "free." That may not be the kind of customer they want. The other problem is classified advertising. Monster.com could be a winner take all site ( the business is a winner take all model.) If they start getting "the bulk" of the ads, won't that just help them get "all" the ads, in time?
The newspaper business is no longer a "great" business. But now, it is still a "good" one. But in three years, it may be a "pedestrian" one. I still like "monopoly" newspapers, but only when surrounded by other good businesses. So I own tiny pieces of the Buffalo News, and Washington Post. |
