Major newspaper publishers's stocks are following overall stock markets lower, on renewed investor worries over E.U. debt. Recent trading in stocks I follow:
The broad retreat is stocks, according to The Wall Street Journal, came on mounting worries over Europe's will to address its debt woes as unions went on strike in Greece and investors fretted that trading regulations like those introduced this week in Germany could be adopted in other countries.
After falling 2% on Friday, NWS shares resume trading tomorrow morning as fear in the financial markets is building again -- this time over worries Europe's biggest banks face strains that will hobble European economies.
"Bourses and bank shares in Europe plunged on Friday because of these fears," The New York Times says, with Wall Street following suit.
Shares were also down in Tokyo and Australia in early trading on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.1% to 19,732.12, MarketWatch is reporting, falling back below the psychologically important 20,000 level; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 2.9% to 11,254.22.
Company shares finally closed at $16.21, down 78 cents, or 4.6%, as stock markets overall plunged on growing worries over the debt crisis in Europe. News Corp.'s performance was worse than broader stock market indexes: The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both dived 3.2%. At one point, the Dow fell by nearly 1,000. (Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET.)
Company shares recently traded for $16.56, down $1.11, or more than 6%, as Wall Street registered disappointment with News Corp.'s third-quarter results yesterday. NWS's decline is well below other market indexes: The S&P 500, a closely watched barometer of broad stock market activity, was down less than 1%, as was the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Record box-office receipts from Avatar, coupled with growth in its cable, broadcast and newspaper operations fueled third-quarter earnings, surpassing forecasts and propelled shares in after-hours trading, the company just announced.
Amid a broad market selloff, MarketWatch says, NWS shares fell this afternoon by 3.8% to end trading at $17.68, but the stock climbed 3% in after-hours trading.
News Corp.'s stock recently traded for $17.56 a share, down 82 cents, or 4.5%, as broader markets dived on renewed concerns over the European Union's bailout plan for Greece. NWS's plunge is greater than other market measures: The S&P 500 Index was recently down 2.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 2.2%, or 248 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has fallen 3.2%.
The Wall Street Journal missed the big local story in print because it doesn't publish on Sundays. In the rising battle over New York City news, that gave The New York Times an advantage. Still, it kept the play modest, limiting it on the front page to the traditional far-right column lede position (bigger view):
The two papers are now duking it out online, of course. Screenshots, taken moments ago; click on images for bigger view:
News Corp.'s stock closed moments ago at $17.98, down 62 cents a share, or 3.3%, as newspaper stocks swooned during a day when markets overall fell on worries over Europe's growing debt crisis.
The news stocks were hit harder, however. Gannett closed at $17.54, down 6%. Shares in the New York Times Co. fell more than 7.3%, to $10.45. The S&P 500 Index, a broader measure of overall stock market activity, fell 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 213 points, or 1.9%, Google Finance says.
The Wall Street Journal eked out a small circulation gain during the six months ended March 31 from a year ago, an industry group report says today, as the daily racheted up its competition with The New York Times with a new section devoted to New York City.
The Journal topped this morning's Audit Bureau of Circulations list of the nation’s largest-circulation daily newspapers, trade journal Editor & Publisher is reporting. The WSJ was the only daily among the 10 largest to gain circulation in the latest six-month period, E&P says.
The third national daily, USA Today, continued to see its circulation drop, although losses moderated from the the previous six-month period.
Top three dailies USAT remained No. 2 among the 10 largest, E&P says:
Dow Jones & Co. says in its suit today against Briefing.com that in just one two-week period, the investment website copied a "substantial portion" of at least 100 articles, and republished more than 70 headlines within three minutes of their initial publication on Dow Jones Newswires. The complaint claims Briefing.com cut and pasted Dow Jones content and included the pirated material in its cheaper product, according to a just-moved story on The Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times today won three Pulitzer Prizes, in a 2010 competition that saw a new generation of online journalists elbowing their way into the industry's highest honor.
Notably, the Times' surging competitor -- The Wall Street Journal -- failed to win a single prize.
The NYT won for explanatory reporting and for national reporting. Plus, the Times's Sunday magazine tied for the award in investigative reporting with with the Philadelphia Daily News. The magazine's work was in collaboration with ProPublica -- a new, non-profit website devoted to investigative journalism. (So, in fact, maybe the NYT won just 2.5 Pulitzers.)
In a new post, the New York Observer says: The WSJ, which was once a Pulitzer-hoarder under former top editor Paul Steiger, "once again goes home empty-handed." The paper has not won an award since April 2007, and this brings the Journal's Pulitzer count in the Rupert Murdoch era to a grand total of zero, the Observer says.
Among those published today for Apple's new tablet -- being released Saturday -- most influential-of-all technology reviewersWalter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal raved: "I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop."
The iPad is priced from $499 to $829, depending on features including whether it's equipped for Wi-Fi only, or fully mobile connections via AT&T's network. Here's a roundup, plus videos, with emphasis on the iPad's potential for helping publishers.
Mossberg He writes: I was able to try a pre-release version of The Wall Street Journal's new iPad app (which I had nothing to do with designing), and found it gorgeous and highly functional -- by far the best implementation of the newspaper I have ever seen on a screen. Unlike the Journal's Web site, or its smart-phone apps, the iPad version blends much more of the look and feel of the print paper into the electronic environment. Other newspapers and magazines have announced plans for their own, dramatically more realistic iPhone apps.
David Pogue, The New York Times He writes: There’s an e-book reader app, but it’s not going to rescue the newspaper and book industries (sorry, media pundits). The selection is puny (60,000 titles for now). You can’t read well in direct sunlight. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in your hand after awhile (the Kindle is 10 ounces). And you can’t read books from the Apple bookstore on any other machine — not even a Mac or iPhone.
Edward Baig, USA Today He writes: You can change pages on the iPad by tapping the screen: The page turns naturally, like a book. On Kindle, you have to press physical buttons and wait an instant while the page refreshes. Rotate the iPad, and you'll see two pages side by side. Newspaper and magazine layouts look vastly superior on the iPad compared with Kindle. The iPad is backlit, so you can read in the dark. You have to supply a reading light with Kindle.
What's your gut feeling about iPad's potential to aid our industry? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
In a statement distributed early this afternoon over PRNewswire, the company brags that on March 18, "Dow Jones Newswires released exclusive news that Greece may seek financial aid from the International Monetary Fund. Following the news the euro quickly tumbled by 0.4% against the U.S. dollar, and assets as varied as the pound, the Australian and Singapore dollars and shares in Japanese exporters all declined with suggestion of a possible jolt to the stability of the entire European Monetary Union and the prospect that the euro zone might not be able to handle its first debt crisis."
The statement continues: "Nearly an hour later, rival news organization Bloomberg, as well as Greek media, picked up the Dow Jones story. Reuters was two hours behind. The Dow Jones story was discussed in a flurry of analysts' research reports in Asia and Europe."
Question: Is this a new tactic, spotlighting hot news stories via press releases?
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Both titles will launch new websites in early May, the company says in a just-released statement, separating their digital presence for the first time and replacing an existing, combined site, Times Online. The new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers.
Starting in June, the new sites, www.thetimes.co.uk and www.thesundaytimes.co.uk, will be available for a charge of £1 for a day’s access or £2 for a week’s subscription. That's about U.S. $1.50 and $3, at current exchange rates.
"Payment will give customers access to both sites,'' the statement says. "The weekly subscription will also give access to the e-paper and certain new applications. Access to the digital services will be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers to The Times and The Sunday Times."
As chief communications officer, the company said in a statement today, Bethany Sherman "will be responsible for all aspects of communications strategy for the global news and business information company, including public relations, media relations and internal communications." Her appointment is effective March 29.
Sherman has been senior vice president for corporate communications for the past eight years at stock exchange Nasdaq OMX Group.
In remarks that refer to "a certain other New York daily'' -- The New York Times -- CEO Rupert Murdoch for the first time previewed The Wall Street Journal's nascent New York City edition, in a speech today before the Real Estate Board of New York, according to a transcript on Romenesko. He confirmed that it will launch next month, saying:
"I can't tell you all the details. I can tell you that the new section will be full color -- and it will be feisty. It will cover everything that makes New York great: state politics, local politics, business, culture, and sports. Oh yes -- and real estate. Why are we expanding where others are pulling back? Because we take a different view of technology and value. Too many newspaper editors and owners are afraid that technology is harming the value of our product. The truth is just the opposite: technology is putting a premium on content."
We knew that CEO Rupert Murdoch wants to compete hard against The New York Times with his prized Wall Street Journal.
But I didn't realize how fully it stems from a status-driven hatred for the paper and its owners. That fight is presented as the downmarket Australian press baron vs. the imperious, white shoe Sulzberger clan, according to today's New York magazine cover story about Murdoch. The graph that sealed it for me:
"Building the Journal into a general-interest newspaper to take on the Times is a crusade. Arthur Sulzberger himself is, for Murdoch, a symbol of the Times hypocrisy, its smugness, and its shortcomings. Murdoch’s hatred of the Times is a product of his long-standing class antagonisms rooted in his early days as an Australian building an empire in London. But on a more fundamental level, he believes Sulzberger is a poor businessman who has mismanaged his company’s fortunes and deserves to lose."
What's the over/under on whether the Sulzbergers will still control the Times Co. a year from now? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
1. When author Gabriel Sherman asked Arthur Sulzberger about surging competition with The Wall Street Journal, the Times Co. chairman dismissed his question out of hand: "Whatever," he said.
2. After Murdoch read an unflattering June 10, 2007, editorial about his plans to buy the Journal, he sent a note to Sulzberger that concluded "Let the battle begin!"
News Corp. reported a second-quarter profit in contrast to a year-earlier loss, led by continued strength at its cable-TV programming and filmed-entertainment divisions. Year-earlier results had been dragged into the red by revenue declines and impairment charges.
Excluding items in both years, News Corp.'s per-share earnings rose to 25 cents from 15 cents. Revenue rose 10% to $8.68 billion. Analysts, on average, were forecasting earnings of 20 cents a share on revenue of $8.23 billion.
The results were reported after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading, NWS shares were recently up 2.3%, to $15.39. In regular trading, they closed up 2.2%, at $15.04.
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
With a federal jury trial scheduled to begin Tuesday in Detroit, News Corp. said today that it had agreed to pay $500 million to settle a suit from direct-mail and coupon distribution rival Valassis Communications. In July, jurors found News America subsidiary News America Marketing liable for both unfair competition and tortious interference with business practices, Crain's Detroit Business says. "Tortious interference is intentional conduct, usually in violation of civil law, that disrupts a company’s contractual relationships or business practices,'' the business journal says.
In a statement today, News Corp. said it had agreed to settle the suit because of newly emerged "significant risks" that it might lose at trial. “It has become evident to our legal advisors from pre-trial proceedings over the past couple of weeks that significant risks were developing in presenting this case to a jury,” said Deputy Chairman and President Chase Carey said. “That, coupled with concerns over the venue, led us to believe it was in the best interests of the company and its stockholders to agree to a settlement.”
Valassis contends that News America, the industry leader in in-store coupon distribution, coerces client companies to participate in its free-standing insert or FSI market in newspaper delivery where Valassis tends to dominate, Crain's said.
Federal jury selection was to begin Tuesday and the trial was expected to last at least six weeks before U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow in Detroit. In July, Valassis won a $300 million verdict against News America in a related case before Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Sapala; that case is under appeal, according to Crain's.
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Dow Jones & Co. says in its suit today against Briefing.com that in just one two-week period, the investment website copied a "substantial portion" of at least 100 articles, and republished more than 70 headlines within three minutes of their initial publication on Dow Jones Newswires. The complaint claims Briefing.com cut and pasted Dow Jones content and included the pirated material in its cheaper product, according to a just-moved story on The Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times today won three Pulitzer Prizes, in a 2010 competition that saw a new generation of online journalists elbowing their way into the industry's highest honor.
In a statement distributed early this afternoon over PRNewswire, the company brags that on March 18, "Dow Jones Newswires released exclusive news that Greece may seek financial aid from the International Monetary Fund. Following the news the euro quickly tumbled by 0.4% against the U.S. dollar, and assets as varied as the pound, the Australian and Singapore dollars and shares in Japanese exporters all declined with suggestion of a possible jolt to the stability of the entire European Monetary Union and the prospect that the euro zone might not be able to handle its first debt crisis."
We knew that CEO Rupert Murdoch wants to compete hard against The New York Times with his prized Wall Street Journal.
With a federal jury trial scheduled to begin Tuesday in Detroit, News Corp. said today that it had agreed to pay $500 million to settle a suit from direct-mail and coupon distribution rival Valassis Communications. In July, jurors found News America subsidiary News America Marketing liable for both unfair competition and tortious interference with business practices, Crain's Detroit Business says. "Tortious interference is intentional conduct, usually in violation of civil law, that disrupts a company’s contractual relationships or business practices,'' the business journal says.
Valassis contends that News America, the industry leader in in-store coupon distribution, coerces client companies to participate in its free-standing insert or FSI market in newspaper delivery where Valassis tends to dominate, Crain's said.
