Dec 20, 2008

New year's ultimatum

Dean Singleton has given the unions representing about 1,230 employees at the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News until Jan. 16 to agree to $20 million in cuts or face "even worse consequences." Singleton apparently needs the savings so he can renegotiate terms on $130 million in loans.

8 comments:

Mike Rappaport said...

They should call his bluff. It's a union paper, so he can't just cut jobs on a whim.

Of course, he could turn Renfield loose on them; that might be a fate worse than death.

Anonymous said...

they can and they will. you aren't dealing with the uaw here. singleton is like the cockroach, you can't kill him, he is a carrier .

Mike Rappaport said...

Singleton can't be a cockroach. If you remember your "Dracula," Renfield ate the cockroaches.

Anonymous said...

are you sure he ate the right cockroach...isn't there always more than one?

Anonymous said...

I say call him on his bluff, he will just cry and whine.

Anonymous said...

what are worse consequences?

what are the lenders going to do with his newspapers...sell them? to who and for what price?

he needs to just go away along with his crack management toadies.

Anonymous said...

When will Singleton's other papers go to a non seven day run? He is in way deep for 2009 and can't expect any economic growth to help him out. I wonder if socal will lead the way out with their wonderous niche publications, and crack online growth. But, not to worry, the leader of that wild bunch is still hoping for Newspapers Next to ride to the rescue. Memo to Renfield's boss, and the leader of the socal disaster group, the calvary isn't coming!

Anonymous said...

Hey.

I have a solution.

Take a 7 day product called a daily newspaper and reduce the number of days you deliver it.

Move content to the web and make it up in volume.

Hire non talented people to run the show.

Get in way over your head in debt in a crappy economy.

Change your accounting so you can hide weak performing newspapers at the expense of those that aren't cutting it.

Boy, this list is endless and it is obviously working wonders at LANG and throughout the empire of Medianews.