It came as a surprise yesterday when news broke that the Star Tribune was sold by McClatchy to a private investor group called Avista Capital Partners for $530 million.  McClatchy will also receive a tax benefit of another $160 million approximately.  The company had purchased the Star Tribune with much fanfare in 1998 for $1.2 billion.  That’s a $500 million reduction in the value of the property in 9 years.
Classified advertising and subscriptions have been a real driver of revenue for newspapers, but with the advent of the internet, classified advertising in print is doomed.  Add to that the Star Tribune’s unrelenting liberal/leftist agenda in its news and editorial divisions have driven away large numbers of readers.

From a real estate perspective, most Realtors today only run print ads to satisfy their sellers.  They are a total waste of time and money otherwise.  It’s only a matter of time before the big real estate brokers pull all of their advertising from the Star Tribune.  The auto dealers will be next.  There’s a good chance you’ll see this occur during 2007.  Perhaps Avista can turn this around?  I would imagine one of their first phone calls will be to the CEOs of Edina Realty and Coldwell Banker Burnet.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal is running a poll as to gauge the public’s opinion on the Star Tribune purchase.  It looks like the more people believe the editorial product will be improved with the new owners.