Back in 2007, Warren Buffett warned shareholders that newspapers were on the skids. In his letter at the time, Buffett said "the days of lush profits from our newspaper are over".
The problem, he said, was that the industry was oblivious to the changes that were transforming the sector. "Newspaper properties, moreover, continued to sell as if they were indestructible slot machines. In fact, many intelligent newspaper executives who regularly chronicled and analyzed important worldwide events were either blind or indifferent to what was going on under their noses. Now, however, almost all newspaper owners realize that they are constantly losing ground in the battle for eyeballs. Simply put, if cable and satellite broadcasting, as well as the internet, had come along first, newspapers as we know them probably would never have existed."
Now Buffett says the industry is finished. While he will hold on to the Buffalo News and the Washington Post Company, Berkshire Hathaway won't buy newspapers at ANY PRICE.
As reported here, Buffett implies that newspapers are going the way of the horse and buggy. "They have the possibility of going to unending losses. They were essential to the public 20 years ago. Their pricing power was essential with customer. They lost the essential nature. The erosion has accelerated dramatically. They were only essential to advertiser as long as essential to reader. No one liked buying ads in the paper – it's just that they worked. I don't see anything on the horizon that causes that erosion to end."
no comment untill now