Metue.com

The Tribune Co. got into trouble, ultimately seeking protection through bankruptcy, because it wasn’t able to sell off assets fast enough, or at high enough prices, to service debt. The New York Times, though carrying a far more management debt load, wasn’t going to risk making similar mistakes.

The venerable media company, which has struggled along with its industry,  agreed this week to borrow $250m from Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim Helú (bio).

Upwards of 90 percent of the Times Co.’s revenue comes from its news media businesses. The relative lack of diversification, and simultaneous dependence on advertising in the currently weak market, has squeezed operating profits heavily. Click to Read More

Much is relative.  Last week was bad for Circuit City;  on a comparative scale, not so much for gamer, Midway Games. Despite the crippling pressure of massive lingering debt potentially due ahead of its time, the company managed to do what the big retailer that’s sold their games couldn’t: buy more time.

Triggered by “change of control provisions” put into play when majority shareholder Sumner Redstone liquidated his position, Midway’s been facing down the prospect of Noteholder repurchase rights that, if exercised, could easily bankrupt the company.

At the end of December, Midway managed to reach a short term extension agreement with the holders of 7.125% convertible notes due in 2026.  Holders of Midway’s other class of notes (6% Notes due a year earlier) were holding out.

Thursday, January 15th, the 6% Noteholders also agreed to terms.  Click to Read More

It’s hasta la vista for beleaguered electronics giant Circuit City.  The 60 year old company, which declared bankruptcy in November, was unable to agree to terms with a buyer in time to meet a Friday deadline.  Rather than seeking an extension, that likely would have only briefly prolonged life, the company will liquidate.  765 retail stores in Canada may still be sold, and are looking at January 23rd offer deadline,  but 567 U.S. stores are gone, effective March 31st.  Thousands of jobs will go with them. The merchandise sales will begin tomorrow.

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Yahoo’s hiring of Carol Bartz on the 13th officially filled the company’s leadership vacancy.  An SEC filing Thursday filled in the gaps on some of the details in the deal she struck.  The 8K filing includes the offer and complete terms.  What’s it cost to recruit a high profile CEO? Hint, it’s not cheap (though many elements are tied closely to performance). All said and done, bonuses and buyouts included and vesting periods set aside, there are seven zeros in the total number.  In bullet-point form:

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A year ago, Bill Gates took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show to deliver his final keynote address.  As always, he talked about Microsoft’s achievements and he spoke of his vision for the future. One of the touch-points emphasized was changes to user interfaces on the horizon.  Building on the “Surface” initiative Microsoft launched months earlier, Gates said we were overdue for evolution in computer controls.  In the future, he said, we’ll migrate away from solitary dependence on keyboards and mice.  Whether in kitchen electronics (talked about a year ago and now becoming available), or traditional computing environments, touch, voice and more “natural” interfaces, he predicted, would become more common; not replacements, per say, but alternate choices suited for some applications.  The increasing ubiquity of computing – whether through the “cloud” or converging devices – would pave the way.

2008 rolled forward with steps taken in that direction.  Touch enabled cell phones crossed unquestionably to the mainstream. The Wii, in gaming, continued to dominate competition thanks to its inventive motion controls.  Multiple touch and gesture controls appeared around the computing industries.   The table, it seemed, was being set.

Starting off 2009, Microsoft is making another push in the direction of Gates’ vision.  At the Consumer Electronics Show this past week, the company demonstrated an early version of the next Windows O.S. (Windows 7). In the trade show booth, as seen in the Metue.com video footage at the end of this article (also available here), the touch controls were featured prominently.  Today, adding to that, the company confirmed more investment into the space.

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Mark Twain famously quipped,”The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Executives at Yahoo may be ready to say the same thing about their company. No matter how much time passes, takeover rumors just won’t seem to go away; even ideas conceived way outside the box seem fair game.

Last month it was Velocity Interactive dubbed the suitor.  The VC firm’s internal fundraising efforts were incorrectly re-imagined as a search for financiers to back a Yahoo buyout.  This month, according to a new Tech Crunch report, it’s a group of unnamed Silicon Valley executives and bankers circling.

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As years end and the holiday cycle takes over, the pace of events downshifts to a crawl.  People rest, taking time with friends and family to reflect and recharge.  Vacation’s take over, businesses shutter.  Business events and politics, pause.  Similarly, the news industry reporting on it all, retrenches. In papers and on websites around the world, pages and mastheads usually dotted with zippy headlines and urgent ledes loan space to nostalgic recaps and forward projections; accounts of the year that was and prognostication for the year that will be.

It’s that time of year.

The lists of 2008’s highlights and shortcomings promise to be long.  Many will emphasize the historic U.S. elections and the plight of the global economy.  There will be talk of Wall Street’s upheaval and the auto industry’s implosion, Madoff’s mess and fortunes lost. There will be assessments of the Mideast, reference to oil and gas and the environment. There will be summaries of mergers and acquisitions, those that succeeded and those that failed, highlight reels and shames, box office booms and busts.

So goes the year end process.

In this fervent generation of lists, hopefully,  the news media won’t overlook reviewing itself.  History has yet to write the footnotes, but 2008 is a year that could end up standing out as a part of a watershed period in the evolution of print media, a year when Internet news became a more relied upon source than print (according to a recent Pew Internet survey), a time when digitally rooted upheaval may have finally reached such a pinnacle that it will begin to force the transformation of the industry.

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