At least J. Person went out with a bang --- NY Times buys The Athletic --- "...turn out the lights, the party's over..."

[SizzleBuzz]

Edited January 7, 2022 by SizzleBuzz

[Carolina Mike]

That’s a wrap! 

[kungfoodude]

Ooof. The Athletic was the last real place to get sports journalism. 

Guess that is officially dead now.

[Khyber53]

The New York Times did so much to kill small town newspapers throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. They bought up small newspapers left and right, getting all of them within a region, consolidating staffs, eliminating presses and "streamlining" things until they had wrung the life out of it.

Other big newspapers followed their path and ran into major troubles. The Boston Herald went under because of their overspending in this with little return. The big papers just never got what made those small town newspapers work and it shows. They've turned all of them into little cookie cutters of boredom.

So, I guess now they're going to set about buying virtual magazines, too. Amalgamation just sucks.

[kungfoodude]

4 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

The New York Times did so much to kill small town newspapers throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. They bought up small newspapers left and right, getting all of them within a region, consolidating staffs, eliminating presses and "streamlining" things until they had wrung the life out of it.

Other big newspapers followed their path and ran into major troubles. The Boston Herald went under because of their overspending in this with little return. The big papers just never got what made those small town newspapers work and it shows. They've turned all of them into little cookie cutters of boredom.

So, I guess now they're going to set about buying virtual magazines, too. Amalgamation just sucks.

It happened in radio and now local TV stations, as well. Big, evil companies set to ruin their entire industries in the pursuit of endless profits.

Nothing more American than that.

[BIGH2001]

I wouldn’t wipe my ass with the NY Times.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

44 minutes ago, BIGH2001 said:

I wouldn’t wipe my ass with the NY Times.

Same

Probably for the exact opposite set of reasons as you though

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, kungfoodude said:

Big, evil companies set to ruin their entire industries in the pursuit of endless profits.

Nothing more American than that.

Bingo. We desperately need a return to the trust busting ways of the early 20th century. We're living in a new age of robber barons and most people are just too dumb to see it because they hide behind private equity firms.

 

 

[Tbe]

2 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

It happened in radio and now local TV stations, as well. Big, evil companies set to ruin their entire industries in the pursuit of endless profits.

Nothing more American than that.

You act like those little stations were forced to sell at gun point.
 

The athletic was spending over $50 million while making $35 million. It was probably a year or so from shutting down.

Selling it at least gives it a chance to live on a while longer.

[ladypanther]

Maybe the Observer will get to keep Ellis a little longer then.  He is a good young sportswriter.

[Mr. Scot]

Under Times ownership, The Athletic will be operated separately from The Times’s newsroom and its sports section, the company said. 

Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, who started The Athletic in 2016, will stay on after the acquisition. 

“The future growth of The Athletic and of the combined New York Times and The Athletic — and the broader bundle and portfolio of products — depends on things that we have literally spent the last half decade, maybe longer, learning how to do,” Ms. Levien said in an interview, citing The Times’s experience with marketing and advertising, among other things.

When asked about potential layoffs at The Athletic, she said, “at this point, that’s not our plan.”

“If we were to have tried to build something, it would have been The Athletic,” Mr. Perpich said. “And so when we saw it, we just said, ‘We should acquire it as opposed to trying to replicate what they’re doing."

Meredith Kopit Levien, the chief executive of the Times Company, called The Athletic “a great complement to The Times.”

Source: The New York Times

Edited January 7, 2022 by Mr. Scot

[Waldo]

That entire industry is in decay. I have no idea how to salvage any of the quality that is left. Its not going to happen for free.

Journalism is being phased out and the rise of entertainment as news is rampant,  opinion is not journalsim. It's a cancer that needs to be figured out or we are headed to Idiocracy level reality. It's already here sadly.

 

[Mr. Scot]

34 minutes ago, Tbe said:

The athletic was spending over $50 million while making $35 million. It was probably a year or so from shutting down.

Selling it at least gives it a chance to live on a while longer.

From the Times article...

Ms. Levien said The Athletic would eat into The Times’s profitability over the next three years, before adding to the bottom line, as it adds new subscribers and more advertising revenue. The New York Times will offer The Athletic as an independent subscription — and will ultimately make it a part of a New York Times package.

[Mr. Scot]

From the Outkick article...

Meanwhile, Toonkel brought up another interesting point: “The big question is how the Times can integrate The Athletic without squeezing its bottom line too much. The Athletic has said it doesn’t expect to be profitable until 2023, thanks to its hefty staff.”

The Times later confirmed the deal and admitted it plans to take a financial hit for the next three years, at least.

The actual context of the quote prominently featured in the OP was that they were worried about the company going out of business.

The Times acquisition is expected to help keep them going.