Gawker
Ha-Ha!
Posts Tagged “
Mort Zuckerman
”
Ha-Ha!
Newsday Slipping From Murdoch's Clutches
"Cablevision is preparing a $650 million offer for Newsday, $70 million more than bids by Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer B. Zuckerman... Executives... interested in Newsday said they learned over the last month that printing, trucking and subscription operations were more troubled and inefficient than they knew. Paradoxically, that has persuaded them that the paper was worth more... 'These are problems that can be fixed, so there’s a lot of room for improvement,' one executive said." [Times]
tabloid wars
Zuckerman to Murdoch: Take Your Monopoly and Suck It.
"Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner of The Daily News, believes he can snatch Newsday from Rupert Murdoch without offering a dime more than the $580 million already on the table. Mortimer B. Zuckerman will argue his bid has less potential for regulatory uncertainty." More »
rupert murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's 78th year has been busy. With the exit of the Wall Street Journal's native managing editor, Marcus Brauchli, the Australian media mogul's lieutenant now has a free hand to turn the business newspaper into a broader national title. We're hearing this afternoon that Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman has dropped out of the bidding for Newsday, clearing the way for Murdoch's News Corporation to take control of a third newspaper in the New York market. And the New York Post is this week shrinking to allow the News Corporation tabloid to be produced on the same presses as the Journal. But here's the question: why the rush? There are three main reasons: newspaper publishing economics; the broader synergies available to a media group with heightened political influence; and mortality.
More »
Old Man In A Hurry
Rupert Murdoch's 78th year has been busy. With the exit of the Wall Street Journal's native managing editor, Marcus Brauchli, the Australian media mogul's lieutenant now has a free hand to turn the business newspaper into a broader national title. We're hearing this afternoon that Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman has dropped out of the bidding for Newsday, clearing the way for Murdoch's News Corporation to take control of a third newspaper in the New York market. And the New York Post is this week shrinking to allow the News Corporation tabloid to be produced on the same presses as the Journal. But here's the question: why the rush? There are three main reasons: newspaper publishing economics; the broader synergies available to a media group with heightened political influence; and mortality.
More »
celebrity-industrial complex
Why Harvey Weinstein Thinks He Owns New York Media
After yesterday's story about a New York magazine critic apologizing to Harvey Weinstein, and the critic's suspect assertion that his apology was independent of the sharp-elbowed former Miramax chief, we heard from a well-placed media veteran who said Weinstein has long loved to brag about his ability to extract such concessions, and in fact about how he effectively owns New York media. It turns out the bragging is not entirely without reason. Said the tipster: "Name any media outlet and there is a 'best friend/recent connection that I [Weinstein] can call to kill stories/get a retraction' from." It didn't take a lot of digging to figure out what the source meant. A quick rundown of Weinstein's top-of-the-masthead connections: More »
dead trees
Since when is Newsday so hot? The paper consistently publishes the most boring front page of any of the Gotham tabloids, but the publication is clearly stirring the passions of corporate tycoons. Rupert Murdoch's interest emerged yesterday; now it's clear that the News Corp. CEO and Post owner must queue with other suitors interested in winning Newsday from money-hemorrhaging Tribune Company. Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman wants the paper for largely the same reason as Murdoch, which is to merge business-side offices and cut costs enough to drive the remaining, unaffiliated tabloid out of business. Long Island cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp. is bidding, perhaps so it can cross-sell ads from its cable system and local news channel into Newsday. It's not clear that the other two bidders are as serious as Murdoch, or can afford to be, but broker Citigroup is apparently planning a "soft auction." Newspaper analyst John Morton estimates Newsday could fetch $350 million to $400 million, down about half from its value five years ago. Kind of sad for what Morton described, in the Times' retelling, as "probably one of Tribune's more lucrative papers." [Times, WSJ]
Newsday Is Hot Sheet
Since when is Newsday so hot? The paper consistently publishes the most boring front page of any of the Gotham tabloids, but the publication is clearly stirring the passions of corporate tycoons. Rupert Murdoch's interest emerged yesterday; now it's clear that the News Corp. CEO and Post owner must queue with other suitors interested in winning Newsday from money-hemorrhaging Tribune Company. Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman wants the paper for largely the same reason as Murdoch, which is to merge business-side offices and cut costs enough to drive the remaining, unaffiliated tabloid out of business. Long Island cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp. is bidding, perhaps so it can cross-sell ads from its cable system and local news channel into Newsday. It's not clear that the other two bidders are as serious as Murdoch, or can afford to be, but broker Citigroup is apparently planning a "soft auction." Newspaper analyst John Morton estimates Newsday could fetch $350 million to $400 million, down about half from its value five years ago. Kind of sad for what Morton described, in the Times' retelling, as "probably one of Tribune's more lucrative papers." [Times, WSJ]
analysis
Adventures In ROYGBIV: Why The 'Daily News' Is Going Color
The Daily News was very busy this afternoon telling everyone and their mom that the city tabloid will go all color by the end of 2009, making it the "first major market daily newspaper in the United States" to do so, according to a release. (Never mind that Europe's been doing this for years, along with plenty of far more inferior weeklies stateside.) Publisher Mort Zuckerman may not be losing quite as much money on his tabloid as Rupert Murdoch does on his Post, but we're fairly sure Mort's not changing the hue of his paper just so it'll look a little prettier at the prom. More »
broken borders
The Canadian Media Mafia
A story in Canada's National Post about how Canadian journo Clive Thompson is secretly jealous of more famous Canadian author Malcom Gladwell made brief mention of "a Canadian mafia of print journos that exists in the Manhattan magazine world." There are more Canucks in the New York media world than you might imagine, and nearly all of them hold positions of terrifying power. Do you know your Canadian Mafia members? Join us on a trip through Manhattan's dirty underbelly with the Molson-guzzling old time hockey aficionados who secretly run the media.More »
The Daily News may not turn a profit this year, according to owner Mort Zuckerman, who told a British Parliamentary group studying the media in September that the news business is "a glorious way to lose money." In fact, in minutes from Zuckerman's meeting with the group obtained by Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici, Zuckerman paints a less than rosy picture of how the News is doing. Circulation figures and ad dollars are down, an advertising office in Detroit has been closed and so have all twelve of U.S. News & World Report's foreign bureaus. The New York Post is a "non-economic competitor," according to Zuckerman, meaning that the Post can afford to undercut the rival News by spreading out any losses around NewsCorp properties, something the smaller News can't do. In fact, Zuckerman's comments to the committee have a distinct smoke signals feel; could he be making overtures to potential buyers out there? Given who pointed out the Portfolio item to us&mdash Mort Zuckerman himself—we're going to go with 'probs.'
america's best third-place newsweekly
'U.S. News' Says "Fine, You Want Lists, We'll Give You Lists"
Realizing that there's no way they can really compete with Time and Newsweek, perennial bronze medalist U.S. News & World Report has decided to go with the gimmick of running one "best of" issue per month. The Post's Keith Kelly reports that the magazine—which can only sell copies with coverlines like "America's Best Colleges," or "America's Best Hospitals"—is hemorrhaging money that owner Mort Zuckerman would rather spend on glossy, embroidered pink slips that he's handing out like candy to Daily News employees. Asked to confirm the changes, U.S. News editor Brian Kelly tells Keith that, yeah, it's true, but offers the wan assurance that the magazine is "still in the news business," and then provides a handy list of the ten best reasons anyone should believe such obvious bullshit. We're actually kind of excited for the change: We hear February will have the long-awaited "America's Hottest Snatches" issue.
the hamptons
On Saturday afternoon, in a dusty softball field behind the East Hampton Waldbaum's, media mogul Mort Zuckerman was stretching his calves. For a captain of industry, his legs were remarkably rickety. On his right calf, a messy bandage alluded to some frailty. But this was Zuckerman's day. For 25 years he'd played in the East Hampton Artist and Writers Annual Softball Game; he is also often a sponsor. Today he and his fellow "writers" (clad in blue jerseys) were squaring off against the Hamptons Artists; that squad, in red, included noted artist Christie Brinkley. Amelia Bauer was there to catch the action.
More »
Mort Zuckerman Pitches, Ken Auletta Catches
On Saturday afternoon, in a dusty softball field behind the East Hampton Waldbaum's, media mogul Mort Zuckerman was stretching his calves. For a captain of industry, his legs were remarkably rickety. On his right calf, a messy bandage alluded to some frailty. But this was Zuckerman's day. For 25 years he'd played in the East Hampton Artist and Writers Annual Softball Game; he is also often a sponsor. Today he and his fellow "writers" (clad in blue jerseys) were squaring off against the Hamptons Artists; that squad, in red, included noted artist Christie Brinkley. Amelia Bauer was there to catch the action.
More »
we read so you don't have to
'Daily News' Proprietor Exactly As Exciting As 'Daily News'
If you're of the opinion that wealthy people are innately fascinating because of their wealth, Nick Paumgarten's 13-page New Yorker profile of Daily News proprietor and real estate magnate Mort Zuckerman is a helpful corrective. That thing is a Lunesta in tiny type. We're not even inclined to blame Paumgarten on this one: Zuckerman may be the most boring billionaire in the world, which is particularly surprising considering he's essentially self-made, and his Canadian Jew background alone should at least provide some spark of interest. But guess what? He's full of himself, he brags about his influence in the political sphere, he talks a lot, he used to bang Gloria Steinem, and, uh, that's it. It's telling that Zuckerman only seems interesting in the pages of the New York Post, which has a vested interest in making its rival look bad. In fact, the only amusing anecdote to come out of the story sounds like something you'd read in the Post. More »
charts 'n' graphs
Mort Zuckerman Denounces Service Journalism
The Chronicle of Higher Education takes a look at U.S. News and World Report's annual "best colleges" issue and suggests that it's one of the only reasons people actually ever recall that there's a third newsweekly option on America's newsstands. But U.S. News owner Mort Zuckerman disputes the fact that the publication takes the extra-ad revenue generated by the "this school is better than that school" issue into consideration when publishing. More »
media
Bear Stearns has a bone to pick with the Times Gretchen Morgenson, as do most people with a background in finance who read her columns. [NYP]
Louise T. McBain's LTB Media somehow makes the Village Voice look like the picture of stability. [WWD]
Huggy, kissy Canadian suffragette Rachel Sklar stands up for sisterhood, which apparently means the right to not have unflattering pictures of yourself posted on the web. Thank you, Betty Friedan! [ETP]
More »
Media Bubble: The Wagging Finger Scolds, And, Having Scolded, Moves On
lisa novak
Media Bubble: Lisa Nowak Is "Competitive, Determined"
media
Media Bubble: Time4MoreLayoffs
new york daily news
'News' Needs Women
So asked the Post during their humble celebration of eclipsing the News in circulation. Apparently not Mort Zuckerman, who canned Skenazy after nearly eighteen years with the paper. Keith Kelly's crocodile tears fall thickly on the page this morning as he reports the dismissal:Even in the permanently demoralized newsroom, this one really upset insiders. They see it as one more move by owner Mort Zuckerman's minions to toss a loyal staffer to the wolves in order to meet his budget numbers. Although Martin Dunn is the editor-in-chief, the blood from this one probably rests with op-ed page Editor Arthur Browne. Browne refused to comment.Kelly does make the interesting point that this leaves the News with only one female columnist, gossipeuse Joanna Molloy. Maybe Mort should consider hiring Alicia Colon away from the Sun; we imagine there'd be a significant savings in salary, even with the expense of hiring a translator who speaks crazy. More »
ron burkle
