The Seattle Times Company, publisher of the Seattle Times lost 98% of its value in the past four years.
In 2004, newspaper broker Dirks, Van Essen & Murray put the value of the company at $900 million. Two years later McClatchy purchased a 49.5% share of the paper from Knight Ridder, which valued the paper at $240 million. McClatchy has regularly written down the value of the company since and in a federal filing dated Nov. 7, it valued its 49.5% stake in the company at $7.9 million.
The Times is privately held, so these figures might prove wrong, but if you own a newspaper, or your inheritance is dependent upon a newspaper, take this as a warning, and think about selling before there is no value left.
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