This little item caught my eye as I was poking around courant.com this evening;

Newspaper publisher Journal Register Co. said today that it is exploring the sale of 26 Massachusetts and Rhode Island publications because of slower growth and because it wants to focus on its more profitable online ventures.

The Yardley, Pa.-based company, which owns 393 papers, including the New Haven Register and several others in Connecticut, called the newspaper market "extremely challenging" and said its online operations generate a higher return on capital, profits and cash flow.

The Journal Register last year bought JobsInTheUS.com, a job board company based in Maine, so it appears they now realize that online classifieds is where the future lies. Problem is, their online ops are just a drop in the bucket compared to overall sales. It remains to be seen if newspapers can make a successful transition from print to web. Other than the NYTimes, no one else does it very well in my opinion. From this report, it's clear that all their hope rests online.

The job boards are winning the classifeds war. (some would say they've already won)


BTW...with all these newspapers up for sale these days, who the heck would want to buy them?

Labels: Industry News