Scripps Puts ‘The Rocky’ Up for Sale

Newspaper Lost $11 Million In First Three Quarters

By Larry Barrett -- Multichannel News, 12/4/2008 12:19:00 PM

E.W. Scripps Co. is looking to unload the Rocky Mountain News, the Denver-based newspaper it has owned and operated since 1926.

Along with the Rocky Mountain News, the Cincinnati-based company is also selling its 50% interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, which publishes “The Rocky” and The Denver Post under a joint operating agreement.

The Rocky Mountain News was founded in 1859, is the state of Colorado’s oldest continuously run business and has won four Pulitzer Prizes since 2000.

“The decision to seek a buyer for The Rocky would have been unthinkable until very recently,” said Rich Boehne, president and chief executive officer of Scripps, in a statement released on the company’s Web site,” but the operating conditions have become increasingly difficult in Denver, as is the case in all major metropolitan newspaper markets.”

“Our 50 percent share of the cash flow generated by the Denver Newspaper Agency is no longer enough to support The Rocky, leaving us with no choice but to seek an exit,” he added.

The Scripps paper’s share of the operating income from the Denver Newspaper Agency fell more than 50 percent to $5 million in the first nine months of 2008 (excluding the one-time gain of $4.4 million from the sale of property) while its editorial expenses in the same period approached $16 million, meaning the paper lost roughly $11 million in the first three quarters of the year.  

Scripps said it is working with New York-based Broadwater & Associates in the search for a buyer. The company intends to entertain offers through mid-January 2009.

“If no acceptable offers emerge in the course of that period, the company will examine its other options for the future of the Rocky Mountain News and its interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency,” company officials said.