Eh, larp or not, this truth is for current working media (and Q) who may see this. (Part 1)

Will not self-dox, but spouseanon is a media retiree after a 35+ year career. He knows the business. His old colleagues know the business. They all know that it's tanking. He took one of the multiple buyout offers made to cut personnel.

Let me tell you who else knows: Anne Cox Chambers, her family, and the legal/management team that control her estate.

You probably don't know who she is, so I'll tell you:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Cox_Chambers

https://www.forbes.com/profile/anne-cox-chambers/#2517458b534a

Read this onehttps://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/anne-cox-chambers1/

(in 2011, her $13.4 billion almost ten times the wealth of Home Depot founder and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank)

The family is SO Democrat that her father, James C. Cox, ran for President in 1920 with Franklin D. Roosevelt as his VP.

From the Atlanta magazine article: "Another of your passions has been politics and the Democratic party, from Jimmy Carter’s campaigns to going door to door for Barack Obama. (A cardboard cutout of Obama graces her living room.)" She's downsized from her previous multiple residences down to her landmark home in Atlanta, another in NYC, and an estate in Provence, France.

The holding company for the family's privately-held assets is Cox Enterprises:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox_Enterprises

Make special note of the TYPE of assets it owns. We will need to take a look at the timeline of WHEN those assets were owned, and whether they are still owned, or have been sold during the last several years:

"Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held American conglomerate based near Atlanta in Sandy Springs. Cox is also a communications and automotive services company. The company owns newspapers, television stations, radio stations (all three being owned by Cox Media Group), Cox Communications, Manheim Auctions, AutoTrader.com, Kelley Blue Book. They previously owned Savings.com and Valpak before being sold to Platinum Equity. Cox Enterprises is currently headed by the daughter of founder James M. Cox, Anne Cox Chambers, and the two children of her late sister Barbara Cox. Its chairman is Barbara Cox's son, James C. Kennedy. Fourth generation members of the Cox family are on the company's board of directors."

Spoiler: The family is methodically selling assets, weeding out media properties and leaving the much-more profitable automotive-related entities in its portfolio.

(continued)

(Part 2)

"Cox Automotive is a provider of vehicle remarketing services and digital marketing and software solutions for automotive dealers and consumers. Cox Automotive includes Manheim, Dealer-Auction Ltd, Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, vAuto, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, HomeNet Automotive, NextGear Capital, Xtime, Vinsolutions and a host of global businesses and brands serving auto dealers, manufacturers and financial institutions. (Insider tip: you have NO IDEA how profitable Mannheim Auto Auctions makes. Whew. Cox Cable, a TV/internet provider mostly west of the Mississippi, also makes a fortune, for a long time in second place behind the automotive entities.)

In June 2015, Cox Automotive announced the biggest vendor acquisition in the history of auto retailing by agreeing to pay $4 billion in cash for dealer software giant Dealertrack Technologies Inc. The acquisition closed in October 2015."

The TV stations were sold last summer. Just last week, "On February 15, 2019, Cox announced that Apollo Global Management would acquire a majority interest in the CMG television stations, as well as the Dayton radio stations and Ohio newspapers (whose operations are integrated with WHIO-TV), forming a new, as-yet-unnamed company that will retain Cox Media Group's management and operating structure; Cox Enterprises will hold a minority stake in this company.[19][20] Cox's other radio stations, as well as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, are not included in the deal; Cox had previously said that any deal involving the television stations would not include radio stations or newspapers."

At one time, Cox Media Group/Cox Newspapers owned 31 newspapers. They now own these four (probably reflective to the family's places of residence– Anne Cox Chambers owns one home directly across West Paces Ferry Road from the Georgia governor's mansion in Atlanta, and the family is originally from Ohio, where James Cox was governor)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta GA)

Dayton Daily News (Dayton OH)

Journal-News (Hamilton OH)

Springfield News-Sun (Springfield OH)

The selloffs are ongoing, so we may not have complete info. This is from 2017:

https://www.ajc.com/business/cox-media-group-sell-florida-and-texas-newspapers/pR8fLAypNl3ziqeqCJcpdN/

(Part 3)

TV stations previously held by Cox were sold heavily just last week:

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/cox-sells-broadcast-group-to-apollo-global-management

"Cox Enterprises said it reached a deal to sell a majority interest in Cox Media Group’s broadcast stations and newspapers to fund managed by Apollo Global Management.

The group involves 13 TV stations that reach a combined 31 million viewers… It also includes radio stations and newspapers in Ohio…

… The TV stations involved in the deal are, WSB-TV, Atlanta; WSOC-TV, Charlotte; WHIO-TV, Dayton; WFOX-TV, Jacksonville; KOKI-TV, Tulsa; WFTV, Orlando; WAXN-TV, Charlotte; Kiro-TV, Seattle; WFXT-TV, Boston; KMYT-TV, Tulsa; WRDQ-TV, Orlando; WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh and WHBQ-TV, Memphis. Cox also has a programming and sales agreement with WJAX-TV Jacksonville."

These are stations in pretty big markets, and they still weren't profitable enough to cut it.

Anecdotal evidence being what it is, I'll still close with it. Several years ago, an acquaintance asked spouseanon to talk with/mentor their high school senior child, who was thinking of majoring in journalism in college. He met with the parent and child, and basically said, "Just don't. The field is on its way out. Go in a different direction, anything other than journalism." And this from someone who loved their career, until the last 5-10 years of it.

Like everything else, journalism isn't the respected career it was 50 years ago. It was never going to be immune to change. Spouseanon advises all you guys to be ready to do something else, although not happy to say it. You know the company gossip you hear in the elevators, parking lots, and at the bar on Friday after work. Keep your ear to the ground. Your local law enforcement and government orgs need PIO's—airports, state DOT, school systems, etc.

>>5306834

Spouseanon added one more thing– at one time, the Atlanta newspapers were losing $1 million EVERY MONTH.

The Cox family has so much money that it didn't matter.

>>5307179

Hm, I wonder exactly how close to the Corinthia Hotel the London office of Hakluyt is located?

My guess is that you can walk from one to the other without getting caught in the rain.

That basement level is so useful.