Boston Globe to Close?

The New York Times Company, which owns the Globe, has filed a notice with federal authorities that it plans to shut the Boston paper. Under the Worker Readjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Times Company has 60 days to extract any final concessions from the four unions, at which point it will be allowed to shutter the paper. David Warsh has lots of good backstory on the Times ownership of the Globe. So does the Boston Globe.

The paper is seeking just shy of $20 million dollars in concessions from its four unions: $10 million from the Newspaper Guild, $5 million from the mailers, $2.5 from the drivers and $2.2 from the pressmen. My understanding is that the mailers and drivers have both come up with adequate concessions, and the Newspaper Guild and pressmen are holding out. But what I don't understand is why those concessions, if granted, would stabilize the Globe. The paper is expected to lose $85 million this year. Losing $65 million isn't exactly a robust business model.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/05/boston-globe-to-close/17051/