Silicon Alley Insider, a frequent source of morbid news about the plight of the New York Times, has morbid news about the local (Seattle) Times:
In 2004, newspaper broker Dirks, Van Essen & Murray put the value of the company at $900 million. Two years later McClatchy purchased a 49.5% share of the paper from Knight Ridder, which valued the paper at $240 million. McClatchy has regularly written down the value of the company since and in a federal filing dated Nov. 16, it valued its 49.5% stake in the company at $7.9 million.
Seattle Newspaper’s Value Drops 98% In 4 Years
2009 is going to be ugly, ugly, ugly for newspapers. The fire sale is on — there will be some real deals for newspapers’ non-newspaper assets in the next six months (want to buy part of the Red Sox?)