First Melinda Gates, now Warren Buffett exit Wash Post board
Warren Buffett has always had a sweet spot in his heart for newspapers. Until he didn’t. In recent years, Buffet – once a paper boy, now a newspaper owner — has been quite vocal about the prospects of the industry. For instance in 2009 during a Berkshire Hathaway gathering in Omaha he told investors that the newspaper industry had the possibility of “unending losses” and that Berkshire would not buy most newspapers in the U.S. at any price.
Buffett, who owns the Buffalo News and has deep ties with the Washington Post, just cut another string of attachment to the industry: After nearly 40 years, Buffett said he is leaving the board of the Washington Post Co.
As my colleague Ben Berkowtiz reported, Buffett has been dialing back on his board commitments, choosing to devote more time to Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffet’s departure comes at the heels of another high-profile board member Melina Gates, who left the Washington Post board in November. With the newspaper industry in decline — it has yet to enjoy the bounce-back in advertising enjoyed by other media like television — the Washington Post is suffering like its peers. Even worse, the company’s cash cow the Kaplan education division is in danger of getting hit by government rules that could impact the business.
While Buffett and Washington Post chief executive Donald Graham, whose family owns the Washington Post, said in a statement that Buffett will still be available to advise the education and media company, the lastest move has got to sting.
(Photo: Reuters)
UPDATE: Everybody loves Steve Burke, even Warren Buffett
When news of Comcast’s bid for NBC Universal broke on Sept 30 most of the spotlight focused on Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.
But as the weeks dragged on, some of that spotlight began to shine on his number 2, Stephen Burke, chief operating officer and a former senior Disney executive.
As we now know since the deal was confirmed on Dec 3, NBC Universal’s top brass will report to Burke, making him (once you count the 24 million subscribers he also oversees) one of the most powerful men in TV.
Now, as if he won’t be busy enough taking drape measurements at 30 Rock, Burke has added another feather to his cap. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said this morning that he will join the board.
While it may be sign that Buffett is opening up his board to outsiders, it’s also a sign that Burke has become a force to be reckoned with in the corporate world. He already serves on the board of JP Morgan, which as you might recall had a lot to do with engineering the NBC deal — JPMorgan was the banker for NBC parent General Electric.
How powerful is Burke? Well even his minions-to-be can’t get enough of him. A CNBC reporter said this morning in response to the news of his Berkshire appointment, that Burke is “a very handsome man.”
UPDATE: Since we issued our original post, Comcast put out a regulatory filing stating Burke’s contract has been extended for another five years to Dec 2014. The new contract “acknowledges his substantially increased responsibilities.”
I watch fox tv station all the time. My favorite news, sports, and programs are on this station.
I am asking you to keep it on.
Please keep it on.
CORRECTED-Sun Valley: YouTube’s most valuable customer
Corrects blog post to show Buffett was talking about YouTube, not Facebook.
Attention YouTube: Warren Buffett wants to give you money.
That’s the word from Liberty Media Chairman John Malone, who sat on a panel about digital media at the Allen & Co confab in Sun Valley on Tuesday.
Malone told reporters on the sidelines of the event that billionaire investor Buffet, aka the Oracle of Omaha, had told him privately that he would be willing to pay $5 a month to use YouTube, the popular video site owned by Google.
YouTube, of course, is a free Web service which makes its money through advertising. But other popular social media like Twitter have yet to generate revenue, and monetizing social networks is a big topic of discussion among the media and tech executives gathered for the conference.
“Sooner or later people are going to get addicted to some of these services and they’ll be willing to pay for it. The question is really the economics,” Malone said.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, or founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, have yet to turn up at the event.
Boston Globe, still alive
When we went to bed late last night, the state of play on The Boston Globe didn’t look so hot. Since then… it’s still not looking so hot.
The short story: Some of the Globe’s union appear to have reached tentative accords with the Globe and its parent company, The New York Times, which has threatened to shut down the money-losing paper if it doesn’t win $20 million in concessions. The Boston Newspaper Guild, which is on the hook for $10 million alone, said it has offered more than it has to, but it appears to not have been enough so far. The Times Co, meanwhile, said it would file a federal government notice that it intends to shut the paper. The big issue? Lifetime job guarantees that the Times wants to eliminate.
Here’s the latest from the sleepless reporters at its smaller competitor, the Boston Herald:
Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten left Sacred Heart School at 6:45 a.m. today – nearly seven hours after the midnight deadline – and said the union was taking a “break” from negotiations. The Times had extended the deadline to come up with concessions from midnight Friday to midnight Sunday. “We continue to negotiate in good faith. Negotiations are ongoing and we’ll reconvene at a later time. We’re just going to take a little break for now and move on from here,” Totten said shortly before 6:45 a.m. today. Totten said it was “unlikely” negotiations would resume today and he would not comment on whether the Times had extended the deadline again.
And here’s the Globe reporting on its website:
Shortly before 4:30 a.m. this morning, the Teamsters Local 1 president Mary White, representing 245 mailers at the Globe, said the union had reached a tentative agreement that included $5 million in concessions and changes in the lifetime job guarantee protecting 145 of its members. … The mailers’ agreement followed another post-deadline deal reached with Teamsters Local 259, representing 210 Boston Globe drivers, according to Ralph Giallanella, the union’s secretary-treasurer. Giallanella would not disclose the details, but said union leaders came to an agreement worth about $2.5 million in concessions. Still, Globe unions, negotiating almost five hours after the deadline passed, have more work to do. The lifetime job guarantees will likely continue to be an issue with the final two unions still seeking an agreement – the pressmen’s union and the Boston Newspaper Guild. And both are now negotiating under growing pressure to meet management’s demands.
Bottom line: Today’s edition of The Boston Globe will not turn into a collector’s item. Nevertheless, the “WARN” notice that the Times says it will file means that, absent any agreement in the coming hours or days, sometime in early July you might want to make sure you grab a copy of that sure-to-be special edition. It may be just in time for Independence Day, which would be an especially bitter pill for the city that helped spark the events that led to the founding of the United States.
As a newspaper employee elsewhere in the U.S., I am never elated to see this. No one wins.
Buffett’s in the cards
Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway sells bricks, candy, car insurance, carpets, ice cream, jewelry, knives, paint and underwear. Many of these items are available for sale at stalls at Berkshire’s well-attended shareholders meeting every year.
In looking for something new to hawk to some 32,000 investors at the meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, this weekend, Berkshire-owned Business Wire will be selling Buffett baseball cards.
About 2,500 packs of “Berkyville Wiredcats” cards will be available. Each pack of six cards will sell for $10. The proceeds will go to Buffett’s favorite local charity, the CASA of Douglas County, Nebraska. CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, is an organization for abused and neglected children within the court system.
But will the cards come with Wrigley’s gum?
I believe that the baseball cards should include famous saying by the Sage in order to spread the good gospel of business amongst the youth who will be the investors of tomorrow
