Richard Perez Pena

We all know that ad revenue for newspapers is tanking, but apparently it's even worse than we thought. Richard Pérez-Peña is reporting in The Times this morning that newspapers are on pace for their all-time worst ad revenue year. He reports:

Over all, ad revenue fell almost 8 percent last year. This year, it is running about 12 percent below that dismal performance, and company reports issued last week suggested a 14 percent to 15 percent decline in May.

“Never in my most bearish dreams six months ago did I think we’d be talking about negative 15 percent numbers against weak comps,” said Peter S.  read more »

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So Victor Ganzi quit as CEO of Hearst yesterday, and with some shades of Jane Friedman's departure from HarperCollins, no one really knows why.

In The Times, Richard Pérez-Peña writes that "Mr. Ganzi’s fall after six years came as a surprise to executives at Hearst and some of its major joint venture partners, and to investment bankers who track the company closely." Likewise, Keith Kelly reported that it was a "move that stunned many inside and outside the far-flung media empire." And: "I am stunned. I am honestly shocked," said one executive to Kelly.

It is Hearst, a traditionally non-leaky place, so the fact it's a surprise isn't much of a surprise.  read more »

Richard Perez Pena has lots of scoops in today's Times about Rupert Murdoch's takeover of The Journal:

• There has been discussion of having front-page stories so short that they don't jump to the inside of the paper.
• The idea of removing "Wall Street" from the paper's title to give it national appeal was raised, but "quickly dimissed".
• Mr. Murdoch has repeatedly visited the paper's printing plant in South Brunswick, N.J. and asked pointed questions about the printing process.
• The paper's second section, Marketplace, is planned to be eliminated next year and replaced with a new section.
• Days after Mr. Murdoch bought the paper, there was an office constructed for him on the 11th floor of the World Financial Center. He's already started working there.
• The paper will buy out "two to three dozen" people, out of a newsstaff of 750.
• There will be a significant hiring wave.