NY Times to buy The Athletic for ….

[ColoradoBills]

5 hours ago, WhoTom said:

 

"Cancel culture" strikes again.

 

 

[Mike in Horseheads]

I got my daily NY Times Recipes email today.  I'm dumping the Athletic, I don't want them ruining the recipes

[GunnerBill]

24 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

I got my daily NY Times Recipes email today.  I'm dumping the Athletic, I don't want them ruining the recipes

 

That's a shame. Next week's is politics on toast. 

[djp14150]

9 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

THe New York Times effectively got rid of their stand alone sports section a few years ago, Ironic they would buy the Athletic now.  

 

the reason is nytimes is a national paper.  They don’t invest in local sports beyond what would be considered their local market subscribers.

 

ny times has reports who live in the top 50 cities ( all have pro sports teams). It’s a cost/ benefit move of possibly going into local market journalism 

 

thus many tines could compete somewhat in a local market driving local subscriptions with a local page of new stories done by a sports team, snd local team of reporters.

[Demongyz]

19 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

It was probably never right for you anyway....

 

 

 

what loser said THAT??

Ha!

 

I think you may be right.

[Billy Zabka]

The people that cry "cancel culture" the most are the ones that sure practice it a lot.  People need to just get a life.  If the Athletic continues to provide good sports reporting under the NYT then keep subscribing to it.  If Chik-Fil-A continues to make a tasty chicken sandwich then eat there.  If an actor/actress has a political leaning you disagree with but makes a great movie then watch it.  This country sure has lot of whiny polarized political losers in it nowadays on both sides of the aisle that try and cancel everything they don't like and it gets tiresome to the regular people that arent brainwashed.

[JoPoy88]

NYT politics aside, this is pretty funny considering all the brash s**t talking the founders of the Athletic were doing just a few years ago:

 

“We will wait out every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing,” Alex Mather, a co-founder of The Athletic, told The New York Times in 2017. “We will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment. We will make business extremely difficult for them.”

 

Quote from this article over at Defector that also (surprise) says the employees knew next to nothing about this deal. (Note: paywall, but you may be able to view for free)

The Athletic has yet to turn a profit.

https://defector.com/no-one-knows-anything-staffers-at-the-athletic-wait-in-the-dark-following-nyt-deal/

 

edit: @Mr. WEO beat me to the quote 😄

Edited January 8, 2022 by JoPoy88

[Mr. WEO]

15 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

NYT politics aside, this is pretty funny considering all the brash s**t talking the founders of the Athletic were doing just a few years ago:

 

“We will wait out every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing,” Alex Mather, a co-founder of The Athletic, told The New York Times in 2017. “We will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment. We will make business extremely difficult for them.”

 

Quote from this article over at Defector that also (surprise) says the employees knew next to nothing about this deal. (Note: paywall, but you may be able to view for free)

The Athletic has yet to turn a profit.

https://defector.com/no-one-knows-anything-staffers-at-the-athletic-wait-in-the-dark-following-nyt-deal/

 

edit: @Mr. WEO beat me to the quote 😄

 

 

In a NYT article, no less!! lol

 

 

Anyone bemoaning the potential politicization of the Athletic should google "The Athletic Kaepernick"..

 

It would seem those crying loudest don't actually read The Athletic (or the NYT, for that matter).

 

 

 

 

[JoPoy88]

5 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

In a NYT article, no less!! lol

 

 

Anyone bemoaning the potential politicization of the Athletic should google "The Athletic Kaepernick"..

 

It would seem those crying loudest don't actually read The Athletic (or the NYT, for that matter).

 

 

 

 

Oh I know - selective memory it seems.

 

Another quote from the Defector article since I know most can’t read it:

 

“Funded from the very beginning by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital money, The Athletic never needed to be profitable (in 2018, The Athletic said it was profitable; in the beginning of 2020, it said it expected to be profitable in 2020; it was reported that the company lost $95 million in 2019 and 2020; now The Athletic says it expects to be profitable in 2023), it just needed to maintain the promise of future profitability in order to keep investors on the hook while a buyer was found. This is exactly what happened, and now The New York Times is set to buy the company for $550 million (a definite discount from its previous $800 million valuation, but a win nonetheless for the founders and investors who now get to cash out.”

[Mr. WEO]

12 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

Oh I know - selective memory it seems.

 

Another quote from the Defector article since I know most can’t read it:

 

“Funded from the very beginning by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital money, The Athletic never needed to be profitable (in 2018, The Athletic said it was profitable; in the beginning of 2020, it said it expected to be profitable in 2020; it was reported that the company lost $95 million in 2019 and 2020; now The Athletic says it expects to be profitable in 2023), it just needed to maintain the promise of future profitability in order to keep investors on the hook while a buyer was found. This is exactly what happened, and now The New York Times is set to buy the company for $550 million (a definite discount from its previous $800 million valuation, but a win nonetheless for the founders and investors who now get to cash out.”

 

It's amazing that a sports site with a finite number of writers can lose almost 100 million in 2 years.

 

Turns out  these scammers were only "bleeding" and "sucking dry" their gullible VC patrons.

[Augie]

On 1/6/2022 at 7:16 PM, Royale with Cheese said:

I steal ketchup packets from Chick Fil A.

 

That counts as a serving of vegetables on many school menus. Congrats on your healthy, yet thrifty diet!

[JoPoy88]

1 minute ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

It's amazing that a sports site with a finite number of writers can lose almost 100 million in 2 years.

 

Turns out  these scammers were only "bleeding" and "sucking dry" their gullible VC patrons.

Exactly. For all the high praise the Athletic has received for its business model over the last few years, especially towards its beginning, it doesn’t appear to be very groundbreaking or innovative. They stripped talent from everywhere using their giant well of VC cash to outbid everyone else, especially the local papers (Tim Graham brags all the time how well he’s paid to trolls on twitter.) Doing that of course burned through mountains of that cash, but it worked out for the founders and angel investors with this deal.

[Mr. WEO]

12 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

Exactly. For all the high praise the Athletic has received for its business model over the last few years, especially towards its beginning, it doesn’t appear to be very groundbreaking or innovative. They stripped talent from everywhere using their giant well of VC cash to outbid everyone else, especially the local papers (Tim Graham brags all the time how well he’s paid to trolls on twitter.) Doing that of course burned through mountains of that cash, but it worked out for the founders and angel investors with this deal.

 

And local sports pages remain intact.....

 

This was a scam from day one with these 2 guys

 

[RiotAct]

7 hours ago, BUFFALOBART said:

There is nothing wrong with the Newspaper.

 

:: spits out beverage ::

[CoudyBills]

On 1/6/2022 at 7:40 PM, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

What 'brand' is that... the brand that's not catering to Bubba and Karen?

Throw your B word fit elsewhere.

2 hours ago, JoPoy88 said:

Oh I know - selective memory it seems.

 

Another quote from the Defector article since I know most can’t read it:

 

“Funded from the very beginning by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital money, The Athletic never needed to be profitable (in 2018, The Athletic said it was profitable; in the beginning of 2020, it said it expected to be profitable in 2020; it was reported that the company lost $95 million in 2019 and 2020; now The Athletic says it expects to be profitable in 2023), it just needed to maintain the promise of future profitability in order to keep investors on the hook while a buyer was found. This is exactly what happened, and now The New York Times is set to buy the company for $550 million (a definite discount from its previous $800 million valuation, but a win nonetheless for the founders and investors who now get to cash out.”

That's how telecom works too ha

[GunnerBill]

6 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

And local sports pages remain intact.....

 

This was a scam from day one with these 2 guys

 

 

Yea whatever they said I think this was always the plan. Get the profile then sell out for a big wad of cash. 

 

I am about, ironically, to say something political - but this is the problem with the complete obsession we have with market driven capitalism. Driving revenue growth is more important to the market than driving profit. It leads to these extremely high value companies with a balance sheet showing nothing but losses. Spotify is the other one in a very similar position. 

[Mr. WEO]

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea whatever they said I think this was always the plan. Get the profile then sell out for a big wad of cash. 

 

I am about, ironically, to say something political - but this is the problem with the complete obsession we have with market driven capitalism. Driving revenue growth is more important to the market than driving profit. It leads to these extremely high value companies with a balance sheet showing nothing but losses. Spotify is the other one in a very similar position. 

 

Yes.  These guys are clever, but just following the new recipe for wealth building, as you point out.  What is always surprising is that they are able to raise so much cash from "venture capitalists", when their business model is seemingly weak on its face (a stable of other newspapers sports writers writing sports stories!!).

 

Cons like this and Theranos make it clear that a good chunk of these VC investors aren't as sophisticated as everyone assumes.  

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Yes.  These guys are clever, but just following the new recipe for wealth building, as you point out.  What is always surprising is that they are able to raise so much cash from "venture capitalists", when their business model is seemingly weak on its face (a stable of other newspapers sports writers writing sports stories!!).

 

Cons like this and Theranos make it clear that a good chunk of these VC investors aren't as sophisticated as everyone assumes.  

 

Yep. There is an assumption (particularly with Americans I find this though not seeking to tar you all with the same brush) that rich people must be smart. Believe me when I say I think stupid exists in equal measure right across the wealth spectrum.