The whole newspaper industry appears to be in a state of change and transition at present. I wrote a piece earlier this year about how the major newspapers in the UK were taking a headlong and very expensive rush into buying new presses to put color on every page of the newspaper with what appeared to be the hope the advertisers would suddenly start to return to them. We then see the recent announcement under which Transcontinental Printing, North America’s seventh largest printer, has signed a fifteen-year contract with newspaper publisher Hearst Corporation to take over production of the San Francisco Chronicle. This is the alternate approach to that adopted by the largest UK newspaper publishers with the decision of the San Francisco Chronicle’s management to exit the printed and related components of their business and leave this to a specialist printing organization. The Transcontinental and UK approaches are two totally different business models for the future.

At the same time it appears that the financial predators are looking at some major newspapers in the U.S. and seeing them as significant acquisition targets. According to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper in the UK, some rich buyers are appearing as potential newspaper owners of the future - despite the fact that almost all large US newspapers have lost circulation in the past six months. Jack Welch, the former head of GE, is said to be interested in the Boston Globe. Maurice Greenberg, the founder of AIG insurance has been buying shares in the New York Times. He is also said to be interested in the Boston Globe, Tribune group of newspapers, and Dow Jones. So far the New York Times has rejected overtures for its Boston Globe title and its shareholding structure should stop unwanted buyers. These are not the only newspapers that are attracting interest from potential buyers. It is also understood that other financiers have made approaches for the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant.

Wall Street appears to have lost interest in the newspaper market having switched its interest to online organizations. Merrill Lynch has just cut its newspaper advertising revenue forecast for 2006 to a flat 1.2% growth and is forecasting a drop of 1.5% next year. The interesting point of this is it is the first ever projected decline in a non-recessionary year.