Author: Dave Gauger

BY DAVE GAUGER Merle and Mary Baranczyk, owners of Arkansas Valley Publishing Co., and Jim O’Rourke, CEO of O’Rourke Media Group, announced the sale of Arkansas Valley Publishing to O’Rourke Media Group at a staff meeting Thursday morning. “I’m super […]

BY DAVE GAUGER The capacity to “listen” is the indispensable talent for those of us in media. Nothing has driven this reality home with more force than the current corona-virus pandemic. Do you know a good newsroom filled primarily with […]

A review of recent newspaper and magazine transactions reflects a changing national reality.  It’s now a landscape continually “refreshed” by rapid technological innovation and economic demands. In this changing landscape the future belongs to clusters of non-daily newspapers.  The economic […]

The darling of small weekly newspapers and medium circulation dailies traditionally has been the steady flow of linage from legal notice advertising.  Legals represent a reliably, steady revenue source that typically is low maintenance — meaning no sales commission and […]

Ultimately every decision you make as a publisher should be aimed at creating value. The odds of making the right “value-added” management decisions on a day-to-day basis are substantially greater if you understand those factors driving a publication’s market value. […]

A hostile economic environment calls for tough decisions by publishers aiming for gross revenue and bottom line maintenance. And even tougher choices when targeting gross revenue and bottom line growth. Often the problem is not that publishers aim too high […]

“Ninety-eight percent of the lawyers give them all a bad name,” says my accountant with a wide, self-satisfied grin. While everyone, including attorneys, enjoys lawyer jokes, competent legal counsel is an essential ingredient in every well-crafted transaction. Our company is […]

Ownership of intellectual property is becoming a major issue in more and more newspaper sale transactions. Every department in every newspaper — large or small, daily or non-daily — runs on computer software. It’s now the primary infrastructure of every […]

Bad debt in general circulation non-daily newspapers typically runs .50% to 2.5% of gross revenue. At the higher end are newspapers in competitive urban and suburban markets. The accounts aging report reveals much about the quality of management, and can […]

Objectivity is the hallmark of a quality publisher. It’s also one of the first disciplines sacrificed by publishers when evaluating their children’s suitability for taking over the family’s newspaper. More than any other decision the choice of a successor demands […]