Posted Thu, Sep 17, 10:53 a.m.

The "Great Recession" is not the cause of the loss in Times revenues, and here's the proof: the loss in revenues began before the recession hit. This is important for the newspaper to understand, because there is no comeback after the recession. Things will not go back to the way ...

Posted Tue, Jun 2, 6:17 a.m.

How about using taxpayer funds instead to finance euthanasia. Radical idea? Not at all. Holland has had euthanasia for more than a decade, and allows medically assisted deaths for pscyhiatric problems. If we had a system of approved euthanasia, it would keep our parks from being used as shooting galleries, ...

Posted Tue, May 19, 4:37 p.m.

I think the key to understanding the Lancet criticism can be found in the the paragraph: "The University of Washington received $280 million, more than any other university." I am sure the Lancet, a British publication, would prefer this money be directed at British universities. Well, hard cheese, old boy. ...

Posted Thu, May 14, 6:51 a.m.

It doesn't create jobs, it means that higher education programs will have to be cut, and it means less state services. But what is worse to me, is that it turns the press into another industry siphoning off resources from the state. Not only that, but it shows the impact ...

Posted Thu, Feb 12, 5:42 p.m.

Interesting story. I am curious if the online publication is noticing any decline in revenues as Internet ad rates are plummeting. What sort of revenue does it produce, and is that sufficient to maintain a traditional newsroom with its copy desk, etc., or is it a slimmed down version? I ...

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 5:31 a.m.

A couple of issues: let's say you are willing to pay the price of a small flat-screen TV to buy one of these machines, but then there is the cost of the wireless connection, a monthly charge of say $75. Then there is the subscription to the newspaper. THose questions ...

Posted Tue, Jan 27, 5:52 p.m.

The economy is in the crapper, our transportation system is broken, schools aren't teaching, and so the City Council wastes time on trying to prop up failed newspapers? Come on. Where are our priorities. If the print papers die off, there is no reason to believe that local politics will ...

Posted Mon, Jan 12, 9:07 a.m.

Lot of speculative questions here, but one basic one is do we know whether the PI would have to continue to share revenues with the Times if the paper continued to publish only online? Crosscut Seattle is also well positioned to answer the question of whether an online newspaper is ...

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 3:08 p.m.

Oops. see you addressed my issue.

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 3:05 p.m.

I have a legal question, which I don't know if you can address. But assuming the PI continues to operate as a Web-only product after the printing ceases, does the Joint Operating Agreement still apply to it? The JOA is a legal agreement to have joint publishing, and so does ...

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 10:35 a.m.

The Blethen empire is falling apart before our very eyes. Look at today's announcement of suspending the pension payments for non-union employees: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/393433_timespension24.html Each week brings news of more cutbacks of staffs or benefits. Since the Seattle Times has terrorized businesses with cruel dissections of their books, we now need ...

Posted Mon, Dec 22, 9:06 a.m.

My bet is that the Blethens are taking the banks for a ride, and there is absolutely no intention of selling either the Maine newspapers or the properties. At some point, the banks will wake up and realize they have been taken for a ride here, and that there is ...

Posted Mon, Dec 8, 1:26 p.m.

I am somewhat confused. Is this $91 million a new loan, or an existing loan that has been refinanced with the additonal collateral of the properties? Any indication of the interest rate on this debt, or if it is higher or lower than the previous rate? Is the loan only ...

Posted Tue, Dec 2, 8:41 p.m.

Now the Maine blogs are reporting the drop dead date for the sale of Blethen Maine papers is Dec. 27. Since I suspect Blethen has tied the future of the Seattle Times and other Blethen papers to his Maine purchases, this could make for a very interesting New Years Eve ...

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 10:59 a.m.

The longer this deal goes to buy the Maine properties, the more remote it looks. After this mortgage debacle, banks are only going to back viable enterprises, and not concerns that look troubled from the get-go. Private money has evaporated, perhaps seeing the possibilities of greater returns in the beaten-down ...

Posted Fri, Nov 7, 9:31 a.m.

Alferd Packer must have been busy again.

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 9:32 a.m.

Hey Bill: Why not give us the latest on Blethen? It is the end of the month, and I suspect Blethen is struggling to make his payroll in this ad downturn. I don't think the banks are in much of a mood to provide more cash, and there have been ...

Posted Fri, Oct 3, 10:51 a.m.

supply and demand: Normally, the process of making a loan would be constrained by the availability of money, so the increase in house prices would have been moderated. But the problem is the Federal Reserve was fighting the threat of a slowdown brought about by Japan's recession/sluggish economy in the ...

Posted Wed, Oct 1, 6:01 a.m.

Don't Look Now: So, what about the Oct. 1 bank payment. This looks like the old Three Card Monte trick to me -- look at what is going to happen in December, not what is about to happen this week. I'm not really sure in this economic environment if the ...

Posted Fri, Sep 5, 11:31 p.m.

Rock the vote: I actually would have preferred Handel's Zadoc the Priest, which is favored by the British royalty for coronations. But I did notice that both Dems and Repubs. this year have embraced rock and roll, which is really a slap in the face for those of us old ...

Posted Wed, Aug 20, 7:15 a.m.

question from a reader: As a curious reader, why would not the PI buy out McClatchy's stake in the Seattle Times for $9.9 million? MCI has been dumping some of its assets to raise money, and could use the cash. Hearst, which owns the PI, has a lot of cash ...

Posted Wed, Aug 20, 7:06 a.m.

thanks: Wonderful story, great read, and good explanation for why small operators are going out of business these days. As a customer, I always wondered how these magazine stores managed to survive.

Posted Fri, Aug 15, 8:50 a.m.

Good story: Great explanation of a very complicated issue. But I think that where it will really hurt is when Blethen tries to get more loans from the banks. In the past, he could say that I have a property that McClatchy in 2000 offered to buy for $500 million ...

Posted Mon, Aug 11, 11:19 a.m.

Blethen bust: If more evidence were needed of the collapsing value of Blethen's Seattle Times, take a look at the Security and Exchange report filed by McClatchy Aug. 11, which shows McClatchy slashed the value of its 49.5% stake in The Seattle Times Co. to $9.9 million from $19.3 million. ...

Posted Thu, Aug 7, 10:38 a.m.

More evidence of Blethen idiocy: If more evidence were needed of Blethen idiocy, comes now Charles Cochrane of the Blethen Maine group to say he didn't really mean what he said: http://tinyurl.com/6jkthb Okay, say you are the judge reading Cochrane's lawsuit, and also reading the newspaper. Do you believe his ...

Posted Tue, Aug 5, 4:26 p.m.

p.s. peanut gallery query: As far as selling off the South Lake Union real estate, you think they haven't tried? But there's this little problem back east with troubled mortgage loans that has dried up the real estate market, including commerical real estate loans. The CRE market is following in ...

Posted Tue, Aug 5, 4:01 p.m.

Re: RE: Query from the Peanut Gallery: Thanks for the response. You put much more faith in FirstPaper than I could. The idea that a tab-sized Kindle-like product will take off is beyond me. Look around you and tell me how many people do you see using a Kindle? In ...

Posted Tue, Aug 5, 7:45 a.m.

Query from the Peanut Gallery: Enjoying your reports, but query from the curious here: is there any evidence the P.I. is prepared to take over the Seattle franchise if Blethen goes belly up, as I expect. Hearst isn't doing too well in San Francisco, where it is losing a boatload, ...

Posted Mon, Aug 4, 1:06 p.m.

Perils of Pauline: So who was the idiot who signed away the future of Blethen newspapers with a contract clause that gave the union a guarantee Blethen would not be selling the Maine operations until at least 2011? Let me guess.....Hmmmm, does his name begin with an R? And who ...

Posted Tue, Jul 22, 6:32 a.m.

More questions than answers: Informative post. I have more questions than answers about Blethen's future, but am absolutely floored at the prospect that Hearst might be the big winner here. Talk about Lazarus-like revival. I had written off the P-I as a goner. Are there any hints that Hearst might ...

Posted Wed, Apr 9, 2:07 p.m.

Look at the Times-PI settlement: I liked this series, but think you should have scrutinized more closely those documents Blethen and the PI signed last year, ostensibly settling their disagreements. Reading between the lines, what Blethen had done was to siphon off operating revenues from the two papers to pay ...

Posted Mon, Apr 7, 2:25 p.m.

another blethen bluff: Oh, my, how many times is a gullible public going to be taken in by yet another blethen bluff. Blethen has bellyached about his arrangment with the PI, his arrangement with McClatchy. Yes Blethen is going to sell his valuable building, and no he's not. There will ...