According to Bankstocks.com, on May 6 at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, famed investor and CEO Warren Buffett offered what sounds like a financial death knell for the newspaper business:
"Sometimes there's a perception lag between the actual erosion of a business and how that erosion is seen by investors. Certain newspaper executives are going out and investing on other newspapers. I don't see it. It's hard to make money buying a business that's in permanent decline. If anything, the decline is accelerating."
Keep in mind, in January Buffett bought Business Wire, a top news release distribution service. At first glance you might think that a service like that would be nothing without a robust mainstream news media sector... But it seems to me that direct and niche online distribution is getting to be an increasingly big deal to press release distribution.
Buffett's views are sobering, but worth reading. For an interesting discussion of his remarks, see the comments to this Buffalo Rising post.
(Thanks to HyperGene for the tip.)
Great point. You can read the BuffaloRising posts and get...
