Media
PC Magazine Abandons Print
PC Magazine, an icon of IT journalism since 1982 and home of the famous cranky geek John C. Dvorak, will see its last issue roll off the presses in January 2009. Do not weep for PC Magazine, however. They’re not closing down. Instead, they’ll do what all old media publications will inevitably do: shut down their print edition and focus on their more profitable online properties.
On the online side [Ziff Davis CEO Jason Young] wouldn’t disclose the revenues for the PCMag brand, but said it was in “tens and tens of millions†of dollars. He said the revenues on the online side have grown an average of 42 percent yearly since 2001; digital is about 70 percent of the revenues for the PCMag brand, and overall is profitable. He said that despite the economic situation, the PCMag brand revenues grew about 18 percent in Q308, and thinks that it will hold up despite advertising downturn due to the power of the brand.
What’s truly amazing is that, out of 140 employees at PC Magazine, only seven were actually involved with the print edition. Click here to continue reading “PC Magazine Abandons Print”…
New York Times Owes $400M
The Bee Gees once urged us to understand The New York Times’ effect on man. That was thirty years ago, when sheets of dead trees reigned supreme among media.
Now that we are all media, perhaps we can try to understand man’s effect on The New York Times.
…the company must deliver $400 million to lenders in May of 2009, six months from now. The company has only $46 million of cash on hand, and its operations will likely begin consuming this meager balance this quarter or next. The company has been shut out of the commercial paper market, but has a $366 million short-term credit line remaining that it entered into several years ago, when the industry was strong.
To her credit at least, the Gray Lady sees what’s coming, and she’s doing something about it. If the New York Times is in trouble, how long can Philippine newspapers stay complacent and condescending in the face of the Web?
(Image via Ron Smith.)
