• Reuters, Friday, June 16, 2006 11:32 AM

The turmoil at Tribune Co.--coming as it does after the sell-off and break-up of Knight Ridder--could be a sign that private ownership is the way forward for big newspaper companies, Reuters reports. With the industry battered by declining circulation and ad revenue--and tanking stock prices--taking newspapers off the public markets could ease pressure from shareholders while also allowing companies to explore radical structural changes--going completely digital, for example. "The problem is investors," says Peter Appert, an analyst with Goldman Sachs. "There's this disconnect between private and public market values. Perhaps these companies would in fact be better off not as public entities." But Jonathan Knee, senior managing director at Evercore Partners, notes that newspaper acquisitions aren't easy for private investors: "It is very, very hard to make the numbers work, unless you assume the ability to drastically cut costs."

Read the whole story at Reuters »