Scooped by the Punch

When I was a boy I wanted to be a pitcher for the New York Yankees. In college, I decided that I'd become instead a reporter for the New York Times. After traveling around the world I decided instead that I wanted to be a real Human being with an honest job. But when I lie in bed at night sometimes I still dream of being a Bronx Bomber. Star reporter for the New York Times? Not so much.

New York Times Taking a Beating
Thursday, November 29, 2007 1:09 PM
By: Jim Meyers

There's trouble all around for the New York Times. The paper has announced a hiring freeze and has cut staffers while its stock takes a beating on Wall Street.

In a memo sent to employees on Wednesday, the Times' Executive Editor Bill Keller stated: "As we approach 2008, it is clear that the newsroom is going to have to do even more to tighten spending, and to help the publisher and the Times Company meet the difficult financial challenges facing our industry.

The paper is eliminating about a dozen support positions and trimming "a number of" clerical and secretarial jobs, according to the memo obtained by Reuters.

Keller also told employees: "We put into place a hiring freeze several weeks ago, and except for those jobs that are critically important to our future ambitions, we will be trying to fill [the fired workers�] positions internally."

Also on Wednesday, an analyst with Banc of America Securities downgraded shares of the newspaper's parent, the New York Times Co., lowering its rating from 'neutral' to 'sell.'

Analyst Joe Arns said the company is his least favorite in the newspaper publishing sector, and lowered his target price on the stock from $21 to $14.

In addition to the Times, the company also publishes the Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and 15 other dailies.

Arns estimated that ad revenue in the newspaper industry will likely drop 9 percent next year as a collapse in the housing market and a hiring slowdown reduce the demand for classified advertising.

He also stated that luxury advertising, which accounts for almost a third of the Times' national ad revenue, could drop if the U.S. experiences a recession.

A slowdown in financial services spending could hurt the company as well, according to Arns, because about half of its revenue comes from business centers New York and Boston.

Shares of the company have fallen 31 percent this year, and dropped to as low as $16.02 on Wednesday morning.

But New York Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. managed to sell 4,500 shares of his common stock in the firm before the latest drop in price.

He sold the shares on Nov. 20 and 21 for $17.70 and $17.75 a share, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A Times spokesperson said the sales were routine sales made every year for philanthropic purposes.

© 2007 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

How things change over the course of a life-time. I often try to recall the one thing of the thousand things I did that that pissed off my wife so badly that she filed for divorce. I think, "Ah, I know what it is," but then later I realize it wasn't that, couldn't have been that, because I recall some other thing that was even more outrageous than the one before. But there had to have been that one thing out of thousands of things that finally did it, and I want to avoid that again if I can. This time I think I have it.

I told her once, "Listen, sweet-hot, if OI doi befo-ah youse, which I coitenly hope ain't gonna be so," I told her to take my urn to Yankee Stadium and drop in a pretzel and a glass of beer. I told her that every time the Yankees hit the ball she had to shake the urn and yell on my behalf. Yeah, that's what did it. She wasn't a Yankees fan.

I figure Punch is going to call me up any day now and ask me to come in to keep the Grey Lady from departing, and that's because I have experience now in thinking about what I did to piss off my own gal so much, me being moody and introspective and actually caring about my relationships. I'm sure if Punch cares about it, he'll be calling. I certainly know more about fixing bad relationships than he does. Is that him now? Hey. That was quick.