Boston Globe For Sale!
Wednesday brings the long-expected news that The New York Times Co. is looking to sell off the Boston Globe and the rest of the New England Media Group. The company said in a statement that they’ve hired an investment bank to advise on the sale. For years, it’s been more a question of when the Times would sell off the Globe than whether they’d sell them off—the company tried to find a buyer in 2009, and they’ve sold all their other non-New York Times brand holdings in recent years. So perhaps because this is a rodeo we’ve all been to before, the journalism chatroom known as Twitter has taken the news with more levity than shock. A sampling:
What’s the timetable on when the “Ben Affleck interested in buying Boston Globe” rumors begin?
— Justin Ellis (@JustinNXT) February 20, 2013
@bostonglobe for sale again. New owner to be found by hiding 5 golden tickets in Sunday paper. #willywonka
— Mark Arsenault (@BostonGlobeMark) February 20, 2013
Hearing that the asking price for the Globe is Kevin Garnett and a second round pick, but KG has to waive his no trade clause.
— Jason Schwartz (@SchwartzHub) February 20, 2013
Meanwhile in the New York Times’s own write-up on the news, the reporter notes that, “The Times Company is expected to seek a purchaser in an auction, but in a press release said ‘there can be no assurance that any transaction will take place.'” In the interest of local daily journalism, let’s hope they do find a good buyer. In the meantime, we’ll be daydreaming under the #WhenIBuyTheGlobe hashtag on Twitter. As Charles Foster Kane might say, “I think it’d be fun to run a newspaper.”
