Seriously. Terrrible stock price. $1B in debt. Negative shareholder equity. Now this disastrous non-decision about an Internet pay model. I'd be surprised if the NYT survives 2010.
The New York Times Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger has finally made a “decision” about an Internet pay model – without having made any actual decisions.
The New York Times is going to start charging for access to articles, the newspaper says. When will they charge? Maybe “early 2011.” How much? Not sure. It will be a flat fee for unlimited access, though. When do you have to pay? Not really sure about that, either. You’ll get something for free, but they’re not sure yet. You can read some articles, but we’re not sure how many.
This is not how business decisions are supposed to be made.
I’ll tell you what the problem is: If the New York Times actually goes through with this (who knows, Arthur may change his mind yet again), they have a tough year ahead of them. Moving to a pay model will cannibalize Internet traffic. The sales people selling Web ads have to go back to their big advertisers and explain how this is all going to work out for them. You want to make these kind of decisions quickly, not slowly, because any doubt in the minds of your customers will kill you.
With mounds of debt, an unsteady cash flow, and the newspaper market in decline in the middle of a harsh recession, it’s not exactly the time to be making wishy-washy decisions.
What’s the New York Times stock doing? It’s down 1%. This man has made shareholders miserable for far too long. I’m shocked that he’s able to hang on. The only reason is the company’s whacky preferred shareholder structure.
Disclosure: No positions
