Newspapers trying to change with the times

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc. has agreed to help more than 150 newspapers mine the Internet for additional advertising revenue in an alliance of recently beleaguered businesses.

Under the deal announced Monday, seven companies that collectively publish daily papers in 38 US states are betting Yahoo’s technological prowess and huge Internet audience will help them turn online advertising into a lucrative opportunity instead of a dire financial threat. “We think Yahoo will open many, many doors that we need to have opened for us,” said William Dean Singleton, chief executive of MediaNews Group Inc., one of the publishers in the newspaper consortium.Sunnyvale-based Yahoo, in turn, is hoping the newspapers will help close the widening financial gap separating it from Google Inc., which has leveraged its leadership in Internet search to build the Web’s largest advertising network.”We believe every business in the United States should be customers of this network,” said Daniel Finnigan, a Yahoo senior vice president who runs the online help-wanted service where newspapers will initially concentrate their advertising efforts.Yahoo and the participating papers plan to split the revenue generated by their partnership.The precise terms weren’t disclosed Monday.Although its profits are still rising, Yahoo’s growth has been tapering off – a slowdown that has battered its stock and intensified the pressure on the company’s management to make a dramatic move.Monday’s news didn’t excite investors.Yahoo shares fell 19 cents Monday to close at US$26,72 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.The company’s stock price has plunged 32 per cent so far this year, wiping out nearly US$20 billion in shareholder wealth.Only four of the newspaper companies working with Yahoo are publicly traded.Among that faction, Belo Corp.’s shares shed 18 cents to close at US$18,33 on the New York Stock Exchange, where shares of The E.W.Scripps Co.declined 38 cents to US$49,12.Trading on the same exchange, Lee Enterprise Inc.’s stock price gained 4 cents to finish at US$28,71 and Journal Register Co.’s shares added three cents to end at US$8,26.The privately held publishers working with Yahoo are: MediaNews, Hearst Newspapers and Cox Newspapers Inc.Some of the major papers involved in the partnership include the San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Denver Post, Houston Chronicle, St.Louis Post-Dispatch and The Dallas Morning News.Despite Monday’s cool reception on Wall Street, newspaper analyst John Morton praised the deal as a “hopeful development” for the industry.”I’m used to the newspapers being very reactive, and here they’re stepping out ahead for a change,” Morton said.”Here, I think they’ve become much more agile in trying to adapt to things that are happening.”Nampa-AP”We think Yahoo will open many, many doors that we need to have opened for us,” said William Dean Singleton, chief executive of MediaNews Group Inc., one of the publishers in the newspaper consortium.Sunnyvale-based Yahoo, in turn, is hoping the newspapers will help close the widening financial gap separating it from Google Inc., which has leveraged its leadership in Internet search to build the Web’s largest advertising network.”We believe every business in the United States should be customers of this network,” said Daniel Finnigan, a Yahoo senior vice president who runs the online help-wanted service where newspapers will initially concentrate their advertising efforts.Yahoo and the participating papers plan to split the revenue generated by their partnership.The precise terms weren’t disclosed Monday.Although its profits are still rising, Yahoo’s growth has been tapering off – a slowdown that has battered its stock and intensified the pressure on the company’s management to make a dramatic move.Monday’s news didn’t excite investors.Yahoo shares fell 19 cents Monday to close at US$26,72 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.The company’s stock price has plunged 32 per cent so far this year, wiping out nearly US$20 billion in shareholder wealth.Only four of the newspaper companies working with Yahoo are publicly traded.Among that faction, Belo Corp.’s shares shed 18 cents to close at US$18,33 on the New York Stock Exchange, where shares of The E.W.Scripps Co.declined 38 cents to US$49,12.Trading on the same exchange, Lee Enterprise Inc.’s stock price gained 4 cents to finish at US$28,71 and Journal Register Co.’s shares added three cents to end at US$8,26.The privately held publishers working with Yahoo are: MediaNews, Hearst Newspapers and Cox Newspapers Inc.Some of the major papers involved in the partnership include the San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Denver Post, Houston Chronicle, St.Louis Post-Dispatch and The Dallas Morning News.Despite Monday’s cool reception on Wall Street, newspaper analyst John Morton praised the deal as a “hopeful development” for the industry.”I’m used to the newspapers being very reactive, and here they’re stepping out ahead for a change,” Morton said.”Here, I think they’ve become much more agile in trying to adapt to things that are happening.”Nampa-AP