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Tribune not selling L.A. Times a la carte

Dan Grech Dec 14, 2006

TEXT OF STORY

SCOTT JAGOW: Now, who wants to buy the Los Angeles Times? Anyone? Anyone? Come on, it’s losing circulation and ad revenue. Its parent company, Tribune, wants to sell everything it owns, but so far, no one’s made a bid. Except entertainment mogul David Geffen — but he just wants the LA Times. Dan Grech tells us what Geffen’s offering:


DAN GRECH: $2 billion dollars in cash.

That’s how much Hollywood mogul David Geffen is willing to pay for the troubled Los Angeles Times.

Wealthy business people around the country are trying to buy newspapers. Former GE head Jack Welch, a Bostonian, says he wants to buy The Boston Globe.

Robert Garrett is founder of AdMedia Partners. He says these business people hate that Wall Street forces papers to fire journalists to increase profits.

ROBERT GARRETT: Cutting costs deteriorates the product over time. So cities are getting worse and worse service, if you will, from their newspapers.

David Geffen says he’d be satisfied with smaller profits and would run the paper as a community service.

But Tribune Company, which owns television stations, other newspapers and the Chicago Cubs, is reportedly holding out for bids for the entire company.

I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.

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