from Reuters Investigates:
Mongolia’s El Dorado stirs shareholder battle
In Mongolia's South Gobi desert lies Oyu Tolgoi, touted as having the world's largest untapped copper and gold deposits. Little wonder then that this "El Dorado" has become a boardroom battleground between the relatively unknown Ivanhoe Mines and its biggest shareholder, the giant Australian mining company, Rio Tinto.
Our attempts to get near this mine or elicit any comment from Ivanhoe were about as fruitless as the Spanish conquistadors attempts to find the legendary "El Dorado", or "Lost City of Gold" in the 16th century. Twice Ivanhoe stopped our reporters from visiting the mine with delegations from the investment community, saying reporters were not allowed to mingle with bankers on visits to the mine. We don't know why that would be. We mingle with them pretty often in other contexts and usually find each other's company amusing and mutually informative.
Perhaps that's the point of Ivanhoe's policy. The company and its executive chairman, Robert Friedland, do not seem to trust the media much. They maintain a robust website, http://www.ivanhoemines.com/s/The_Facts.asp., that pretty much takes issue with every story written about them. Friedland is legendary in the business for spinning a story and trying to control the narrative.
Friedland has lived a colourful and adventurous life. Perhaps he admired in his youth the swashbuckling medieval hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel, Ivanhoe, a noble in the disguise of the "black knight" who fights alongside Robin Hood, and so named his company after him.
Friedland has had a Midas touch when it comes to monetising mining assets over the years in a business where exploration is fraught with risk. In that sense. he calls to mind the original El Dorado, or "Golden One". This was the name given to the kings of the Muisica tribe in what is now Colombia, when they were undergoing an initiation rite for taking the throne: they covered themselves in gold dust before diving into lake Guatavita.
In time, the Muisica towns and their treasures fell to the conquistadores, who never did find the "lost city". Friedland can only hope that his efforts to foil Rio Tinto's efforts to take over Ivanhoe on the cheap will fare better than the Muisica's attempts to fend off the Spanish. He may need a Robin Hood or a "white knight", however, to come to his rescue.
(Photo: Ivanhoe Executive Chairman Robert Friedland (right) points out features of the control room at the Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine in Mongolia to the country's prime minister, Sukhbaatar Batbold (centre). REUTERS/company)
The end of the story…
……is the cash cow for Chinese company Shanda Literature Ltd, a subsidiary of Shanda Interactive Entertainment.
The company’s business model is simple: read the first half of a book online for free, and if you want to know the rest (which usually is the case if you have read that far) you need to pay for it. Revenues are split with the stories’ authors.
In China, this proves to be successful. According to Shanda Literature CEO Hou Xiaoqing, the company now has cash reserves of $1.8 billion, with 800,000 authors creating up to 80,000 new pages of content per day, he said at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
On web portals such as www.qidian.com and www.hongxiu.com, customers can chose from a huge variety of stories, and the best even make it into print.
Xiaoqing said the company has also teamed up with China Mobile to distribute literature via mobile phones, a business model that he said was “very promising”.
He added it was now for Shanda to explore whether those business ideas also work in other parts of the world, including Europe.
Could this be a business model for other publishing companies as well?
Tuesday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s top stories in the media industry:
U.S. business magazines face a shakeout (Reuters) Robert MacMillan writes: “Business news publishers rubbed their hands in glee when the financial crisis grabbed headlines last fall, saying the meltdown would deliver a windfall blown in by widespread interest in their stories. It did not turn out that way. Appetite for news does not always translate into revenue, especially at a time when blogs, wire services such as Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters and other outlets crowd into news analysis territory that the big magazines had long claimed.”
McClatchy quarterly profit rises on cost cuts (Reuters) “U.S. newspaper publisher McClatchy Co reported higher quarterly income on Tuesday because of cost cuts, pushing shares up as much as 67 percent, even as advertising revenue fell by nearly a third. McClatchy, publisher of The Miami Herald and Sacramento Bee, also said it reduced the amount of debt that it owes and sought to reassure investors that it will not violate the terms of its lending agreements,” reports Robert MacMillan.
Economist Group Buys Congressional Quarterly (WSJ) Kevin Kingsbury writes: “The deal, terms of which weren’t disclosed, will create a new company called CQ-Roll Call Group. Roll Call is owned by the Economist Group, the London-based publisher of its namesake magazine. Roll Call is buying Congressional Quarterly from Times Publishing Co., whose primary operations is the St. Petersburg Times and related assets.”
James Murdoch Approved Payment to Phone Tap Victim (Bloomberg) “James Murdoch, the son of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, agreed to a 700,000-pound ($1.1 million) payment to a victim of phone-tapping by the News of the World, the editor of the company’s newspaper said,” writes Robert Hutton. > Ex-Murdoch paper editor says phone taps not policy (Reuters)
Conde Nast September Monthlies Lose 1,680 Ad Pages (NYO) “Vogue tumbled to 427 pages total, down 36 percent from last September. W is down 53 percent; Allure and Gourmet are down 51 percent; and Self is down 50 percent. Vanity Fair came in just above average for the company, dropping 36 percent,” writes John Koblin.
In other news:
Personally,I prefer to read news online rather than buying some business magazines.
Wednesday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s stories about the media industry:
Recession sends Americans to the Internet (Reuters) S. John Tilak writes: “More than two-thirds of American adults — or 88 percent of U.S. Internet users — went online for help with recession-induced personal economic issues and to gather information on national economic problems, a study released on Wednesday said.”
BBC and Government Fall Out Over Financing Plan (NYT) “The BBC and Britain’s Labour government, which has a history of support for the “Beeb,” have fallen out over a government plan to share some of the broadcaster’s £3.6 billion in public funding with its commercial television rivals,” writes Eric Pfanner.
USA Today introduces Newsdeck site for top headlines (Editors Weblogs) “To give visitors another way to view the news, USA Today has introduced a site it calls Newsdeck that compiles the top headlines in an easy-to-read format. Users can scroll through stories in eight categories, including News, Money and Sports, with the ability to switch back and forth between the latest news and the most popular articles.,” writes Liz Webber.
Bing’s First Month A Bust (Business Insider) Dan Frommer writes: “Microsoft’s U.S. search market share was 8.4% in June, up from 8.0% in May, according to comScore. It would have been a disaster if Bing didn’t grow at all with all that advertising and free promotion vianews coverage, so at least it’s up a little.”
In other news:
Tuesday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s top stories in the media industry:
Verizon Planning Its Own App Store (Business Insider) Preethi Dumpala writes: “The main idea: Verizon wants to be the company connecting its customers with apps — not necessarily its handset partners. And it wants to avoid becoming an even dumber pipe. Depending on how it’s set up, this could clash with gadget makers’ plans.”
McGraw-Hill might ‘give away’ Business Week for nominal $1 (FT) “McGraw-Hill might reap only a nominal $1 by selling Business Week, according to people familiar with the 80-year-old financial magazine’s record of losses. The publisher has appointed Evercore, a boutique investment bank, to sell the title after deciding it was non-core to a group that owns the Standard & Poor’s rating agency and an educational publisher, two people familiar with the decision said,” writes Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.
Sinclair says it might consider bankruptcy (Baltimore Sun) “The Hunt Valley-based owner of television stations, which depends heavily on automotive advertisers for revenue, said it might be obligated to pay $488.5 million of its total outstanding debt within the next 18 months. The company said it had $1.3 billion in total debt outstanding as of March 31,” writes Lorraine Mirabella.
Minority Broadcasters Seek Federal Aid (WSJ) Fawn Johnson writes: “A group of minority broadcasters asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Monday for financial assistance akin to the aid that has been extended to the financial and auto industries. ”Minority-owned broadcasters are close to becoming an extinct species,” the letter said. “Even in better economic times, minority broadcasters have historically had difficulties accessing the capital markets.”
In other news:
Monday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s top stories in the media industry:
Microsoft takes on Google as Office moves to Web (Reuters) Jim Finkle reports: “Microsoft will offer for free to consumers Web-based versions of its Office suite of programs, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software and a note-taking program. Microsoft will also host one Internet business version of Office at its own data centers, charging companies a yet-to- be-announced fee.”
Six in 10 companies plan to skip Windows 7 (Reuters) “Many of the more than 1,000 companies that responded to a survey by ScriptLogic Corp say they have economized by cutting back on software updates and lack the resources to deploy Microsoft’s latest offering.”
MySpace to Take Entertainment Tack (WSJ) “In a brief interview, News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said MySpace needs to be refocused ‘as an entertainment portal.’ Mr. Murdoch described his vision for MySpace as a place where ‘people are looking for common interests,’” writes Julia Angwin.
15-Year Old Analyst Trashes TV, Newspapers, Radio, And…Twitter (Business Insider) “A 15 year-old working in Morgan Stanley’s London office has written what may be the firm’s most popular research report in years,” writes Henry Blodget. “In it, he explains that none of his friends read newspapers and few watch TV. He also, interestingly, says none of them use Twitter, because no one reads the tweets texting costs money.”
McGraw-Hill trying to sell BusinessWeek (Reuters) Jui Chakravorty Das and Robert MacMillan report: “McGraw-Hill Cos Inc is trying to sell BusinessWeek magazine, a source told Reuters on Monday, at a time when media advertising sales are slumping and would-be buyers for newspapers and magazines are scarce. McGraw hired boutique investment bank Evercore Partners Inc to manage the sale, said the source, who was familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.”
In other news:
Friday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s top stories in the media industry:
TV Networks Fight Drug-Ad Measure (WSJ) “Advertising costs are deductible to any company as a business expense. The plan being considered by Rep. Rangel’s Ways and Means committee would eliminate the deduction with respect to prescription drug advertising,” writes Martin Vaughan.
Big media seek 21st century business models (Reuters) “Media moguls at this week’s Sun Valley conference have spent as much time discussing how to reconfigure business models disrupted by the Web as they have worrying about the weak economy,” reports Yinka Adegoke.
Zucker Says Marketplace Has Reached Bottom (B&C) Ben Grossman writes: “NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker said Thursday that while the overall marketplace is still challenged, he thinks it may have bottomed out. ‘It’s still quite uncertain and we don’t really see the full recovery we are all hoping for,’ he said. ’It’s still tough out there, but I think we have seen a bottom.’”
The Financial Times and New York Times make further syndication deals (Editors Weblog) “Both the Financial Times and the New York Times have announced their international syndications will include additional countries. The FT has confirmed content sharing arrangements with publications based in Turkey, France, and South Korea,” writes Christie Silk.
NBC Reveals Displeasure as U.S.O.C. Unveils Plan (NYT) Richard Sandomir writes: “The head of NBC Sports said Thursday that he broke off talks in April about combining the Olympic channel that it partly owns with the one being planned by the United States Olympic Committee.”
AP Works Toward Universal Online News Format (Mediapost) Gavin O’Malley writes: “The Associated Press, along with fellow non-profit The Media Standards Trust, on Friday unveiled a digital news “microformat” to effectively encapsulate the content and key meta-data of every news story online.”
Tuesday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s stories about the media industry:
Amazon Patents Detail Kindle Advertising Model (Mediapost) Laurie Sullivan writes: “The patents clearly note that Amazon would insert advertisements throughout the ebooks, from the beginning to the end, between chapters or following every 10 pages, as well as in the margins.”
> In-Book Ads Coming to the Amazon Kindle? (Fast Company) > 6 Reasons Why Ads On The Kindle Don’t Work (Business Insider)
Deadline for Globe bids postponed (Boston Globe) “The New York Times Co. has postponed tomorrow’s deadline for prospective buyers of The Boston Globe to submit preliminary bids for the newspaper, people briefed on the sales process said. No new date has been set for the bids,” writes Robert Weisman.
ESPN to relaunch UK channel in August (Reuters) “The Walt Disney-owned (DIS.N) sports network ESPN said on Tuesday it would launch a new channel in Britain in August to show its 46 Premier League soccer matches and other international sports programming.”
NYC announces initiatives aimed at strengthening media industry (Romenesko) “One of Mayor Bloomberg’s eight initiatives: Establishing a Media and Tech Fellowship to be awarded to approximately 20 “rising star” media and technology entrepreneurs on an annual basis.”
Google’s Gmail says bye-bye beta (Reuters) Alexei Oreskovic writes: “The change is part of a broader move that Google announced on Tuesday involving Google Apps, the company’s suite of online software products that includes Google Docs and Google Calendar, among others.”
Monday media highlights
Here are some of the day’s stories on the media industry:
‘Tonight Show’ Audience a Decade Younger (NYT) “In Mr. O’Brien’s first month as host, the median age of “Tonight Show” viewers has fallen by a decade — to 45 from 55, a startling shift in such a short time. This audience composition means advertisers can now address almost exclusively young viewers on “Tonight,” and NBC is already contemplating a shift in how it sells the show,” writes Bill Carter.
Springer’s daily Welt dreams of going international – again (Reuters)
“German publisher Axel Springer plans to launch an international weekly edition of its flagship daily, Die Welt, in a 48-page tabloid format starting February 2010. Springer is still mulling distribution options but the paper will likely be available from airlines,” writes Nicola Leske.
Just the Messenger: Mediaite.com Focuses on Celebrity of Journalism (WP) On the newly launched website, Howard Kurtz writes: “Mediaite paints with a colorful palette, even if its hues will appeal mainly to journalists and those who obsess over them. By hiring bloggers who worked for Mediabistro and the Huffington Post, Abrams has put together a sassy critique of media missteps and foibles, an overall take not driven mainly by ideology.”
Cubs sale finalized for TribCo (Crain’s) “Tribune Co. has finalized a deal to sell the Chicago Cubs to a bidding group led by bond salesman Thomas Ricketts. Documents describing the fully financed deal were sent to Major League Baseball over the weekend, a source familiar with the negotiations said Monday. The value of the deal is between $850 million and $900 million, the source said.”
Food Network magazine is media’s next wave (MarketWatch) “Hearst executives are very pleased with the magazine’s progress. The company started out by printing 300,000 copies last fall. Hearst now projects the publication’s rate base, the circulation figure that publishers promise to advertisers, will climb to 900,000 later this year and to 1.1 million in 2010,” writes Jon Friedman.
Is your newsroom ready for the future?
On Tuesday, a panel hosted by Reuters and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers discussed the state of the media industry and the challenges it faces from consumers demanding information in new and different ways.
How could the industry transform its newsrooms to thrive in this culture?
Chrystia Freeland of the Financial Times said the key discipline was to constantly ask what the reader actually wants and not what is technologically possible. “This is going to be different for everyone,” Freeland told the crowd, which included Thomson Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger.
For the full discussion, watch the video below.
The panel included Chrystia Freeland, US managing editor, Financial Times
Larry Ingrassia, business editor, The New York Times
Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs & new media professor, Columbia Journalism School
Some 30-40 years ago I attend a newspaper conference in Houston, and among other things, we listened to a presentation from a consulting firm on reader desires. Then several minutes later two editors told the audience what the readers wanted.Maybe you’re asking the wrong people for a solution.
