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Local Newspapers Find Hints of Success With Online Subscriptions [1]

['Marc Tracy', 'More About Marc Tracy']

Date: 2022-02-09

When the hedge fund Alden Global Capital bid to buy the newspaper chain Lee Enterprises in November, many journalists at Lee’s newspapers opposed a sale because Alden had slashed newsroom costs at the newspapers it owns.

Lee’s largest shareholder, Cannell Capital, had a different complaint. J. Carlo Cannell, the firm’s leader, believed Alden’s offer was far too low. His reason: The price did not adequately figure in the potential of digital subscriptions.

“Lee has an enormous opportunity,” Mr. Cannell said in a recent interview. “I think sooner rather than later they’re going to get to a million subscribers.”

Such optimism may sound strange. More than 2,100 local newspapers have closed since 2004, researchers at the University of North Carolina say, as people turned to the internet for news and big tech companies gobbled up digital ad revenue. The number of newspaper journalists fell to 31,000 in 2020 from 71,000 in 2008, according to the Pew Research Center.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/business/media/local-news-subscriptions.html

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