March 29, 2024

City’s Newspapers Endorse Stringer Over Spitzer

With varying degrees of enthusiasm, The New York Times, The Daily News and The New York Post all threw their support instead to Mr. Spitzer’s opponent in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary: Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president.

The newspapers lambasted Mr. Spitzer, a former governor, for being “a cheat and liar” (The News) about the prostitution scandal that led to his resignation; for turning in a “dismal performance” as governor (The Times); and for being interested only in “feeding his insatiable ego” (The Post). The News, on Sunday, and The Post, on Saturday, even devoted cover photos illustrating their disdain.

The endorsements could be a boost to Mr. Stringer, who, despite wide labor and official support, trails Mr. Spitzer by as much as 19 points in recent polls.

In an editorial, The Post praised Mr. Stringer as a “sober, honest man.” The News called him a “steady, serious, well-prepared public official with an unblemished record of accomplishment.” And The Times lauded Mr. Stringer for doing an “outstanding job” as borough president, and for improving “the scope, effectiveness and reputation” of a “sometimes marginal office.”

But most of their column inches focused on criticizing Mr. Spitzer. The News, for instance, printed excerpts of a tense interview he had with its editorial board recently about his prostitution scandal. The Post, meanwhile, said, “We would not trust Eliot Spitzer to manage our 401(k), much less take our teenage daughter to the movies, so why should the city trust him with its entire pension fund?”

The endorsements were not a surprise. In fact, Mr. Spitzer has come to embrace such barbs as part of his campaign narrative of being an independent fighter. Lis Smith, a campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement: “Eliot’s spent his entire career taking on powerful interests on behalf of working New Yorkers. So it’s not surprising that the establishment is lining up against him and propping up a candidate who has spent his entire career proving he wouldn’t challenge them.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/nyregion/citys-newspapers-endorse-stringer-over-spitzer.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Axel Springer’s New Focus on Digital Draws Cries of Betrayal

BERLIN — The publisher Axel Springer’s role in Germany’s postwar history — from building its high-rise headquarters close to the Berlin Wall to antagonize the Communist authorities on the other side to denouncing the student movement in 1968 — has earned it respect and disdain in equal turns.

What has never been disputed since the company’s namesake, Axel Springer, founded the company in 1946 with a daily newspaper and a program guide, is the publisher’s role as a bastion of print media in Germany, and more recently, Europe.

So when the publisher announced on July 25 that it was selling off two regional newspapers and several magazines to focus on digital products, the news was met with howls of outrage and accusations of betrayal from German commentators and reporters.

“The company is in the process of transforming itself from one of Europe’s most renowned publishers to a conglomerate concentrated on digital media,” the German Journalists’ Association said in a statement.

“Journalism? Not with us,” the left-leaning daily Taz, a longstanding rival of the more conservative Springer publications, wrote in a headline about the sale.

The print media in Germany have been largely immune to the upheavals that have racked the newspaper industry in much of the world, retaining more than 45.5 million readers, or slightly more than half of the population in 2012, according to the Frankfurt-based group Media Analysis.

So that a leading publisher could divest itself of several of its most traditional printed publications in the name of an electronic future was as shocking for many here as the Graham family’s decision to sell The Washington Post to Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, the online retail behemoth.

Springer said its decision to sell the regional newspapers Hamburger Abendblatt and Berliner Morgenpost, the popular Hörzu TV program guide and several women’s magazines was very different from the Grahams’ decision to sell The Washington Post.

“We sold moneymaking publications to a traditional publisher,” said Tobias Fröhlich, a spokesman for Axel Springer. “For us, it was a question of where we saw the potential for growth.”

The sale of the Springer publications to the Funke MedienGruppe, previously the WAZ Gruppe, for about 920 million euros, or $1.2 billion, still requires approval from Germany’s antitrust authorities.

For Springer, the growth lies in digital media. The company operates several online portals, including the real estate site ImmoNet.de, the StepStone online employment market and a shopping site.

Springer insisted that journalism would remain at the heart of its business. The sale, the company said, would allow its two main publications, Bild and Die Welt, to grow, partly by expanding its presence online through multimedia and digital storytelling. Together, those publications made 514 million euros in profit for the company in 2012 and accounted for about 15 percent of total sales.

The company’s actions increasingly reflect the shifting focus on the digital world.

Last year, Bild sent its editor in chief, Kai Diekmann, to Silicon Valley to make contacts with the heads of major digital media firms. He even exchanged his tie and slicked-backed hair for a much more tech-friendly look, complete with hoodie and a beard.

The company announced its plans in May to build a Media Campus near its Berlin headquarters to house its digital subsidiaries and to attract and train young reporters in digital media.

Last week, several Springer publications allowed Google to display parts of articles on its news search pages, despite a new copyright law that took effect Aug. 1.

But the bankruptcies of the news service DAPD and the daily Frankfurter Rundschau last year, as well as the closure of The Financial Times Deutschland, has raised concerns among the German news media.

“They are worried about their own future,” The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote about journalists in an article that explained the hopes that had been pinned on Axel Springer’s chief executive. “With Springer’s split from its newspapers and print magazines, an illusion has also burst: the illusion that Mathias Döpfner and his company could show the industry the way in how to bring old newspapers and print magazines successfully into the digital era.”

On Tuesday, while German publications were more muted in their lamentation over the sale of The Washington Post, Die Welt lauded the move. In an editorial published online, it compared Mr. Bezos to the leaders from the Industrial Revolution.

“Today customers want to be participants, they want to have control and make decisions for themselves,” Die Welt wrote. “Now, Bezos is beginning to review structures in the news business that date from the 19th century. The decision is not premature.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/business/media/axel-springers-new-focus-on-digital-draws-cries-of-betrayal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

You’re the Boss: The Real Reasons a Retailer Can’t Get a Loan

Charles Kuhn thought he would be able to get a $1 million loan for his bicycle shop.Laura Pedrick for The New York TimesCharles Kuhn said he would sell the building that houses his business only as a last resort.
Case Study

Our case study last week examined the efforts of a bicycle shop owner in Princeton, N.J., to secure a loan. Charles Kuhn, who runs Kopp’s Cycle, had sought $1 million to refinance the mortgage on the shop, pay down debt, and obtain working capital. Unfortunately for Mr. Kuhn, the recession has hurt both his business and, apparently, the value of his real estate, undermining its potential as loan collateral.

But the lenders and other advisers we consulted suggested that Mr. Kuhn’s inability to get a loan has more to do with how he has managed his business than the economic climate or the reluctance of bankers to make loans. “The first impression is we are trying to treat the symptom and not the cause,” said Lorraine Allen, regional director of the Small Business Development Center at the College of New Jersey in nearby Ewing. “If the banks tell us we have a problem with cash flow, we have to trace through the lines of operation to see where the challenges are and address them, and not just for the sake of the loan.” You’re The Boss readers agreed.

Some commenters took issue with Mr. Kuhn’s seeming disdain for the S.B.A.’s reporting requirements, while others faulted him for adjusting his salary to control profits. But many more readers had constructive advice for Mr. Kuhn, as did the other experts we consulted.

One commenter, Michael, of Spencer, Iowa, urged Mr. Kuhn not to cut prices on the accessories he sells. “The average consumer looks at the big thing — in this case the bike — and shops that hard,” Michael wrote, recommending that Mr. Kuhn benchmark his bicycle prices against the Web sites his customers are shopping. “Accessories, on the other hand, are where he and most retailers — including me — make more money.”

Barry Sloane, president and chief executive of Newtek Business Services in New York, agreed. “Cutting margin on all the accessories was suicide for the year. Margin pays bills,” he said. “Instead, for anyone coming in his store with a PDA or ad with a lower price he should match the price. You can accommodate break price on a case-by-case basis just for the discriminating price-sensitive shopper without changing your regular prices or margin.”

Michael suggested that Mr. Kuhn emphasize repairs — and that “his service rates should be high margin” — and other readers recommend he specifically target the customers of his online or big-box competitors, where new bikes come unassembled and often without warranties. “He should charge a fee to build a bike somebody buys on line, and offer a service package too,” wrote DD, of Los Angeles. And “if someone comes into the store with a bike that needs servicing that wasn’t bought there, then our guy should fleece the customer.”

Several readers thought that Kopp’s should become more engaged in the local community, sponsoring rides and a racing team, holding workshops and allying with livability organizations and other businesses. Ms. Allen, of the S.B.D.C., echoed this point: community groups “are like small arteries, marketing to their membership instead of in onesies or twosies,” she said. “Maybe they host the weekly ride and partner with a bank or restaurant afterwards to sponsor discounts or water or something for the ride or the experience. The partner or sponsor will also be marketing the program as well as part of their participation in the community.”

All of our outside experts thought the shop’s Web site could be improved. Ms. Allen and Jay Townley, a bicycle store consultant based in Lyndon Station, Wis., both thought the site could use more social media elements, such as videos on bicycle repair and safety. “Social media, like the Web site, can be a pain to keep current,” said Mr. Townley, “but Kopp’s has the advantage of already working with a Web service that can provide content and assistance in integrating social media into the stores Web site and marketing.” According to Mr. Townley, the Kopp’s Web site is supplied by a company that tailors Web services to independent bike stores.

Ms. Allen thought the site needs more “local flavor — pictures of local events featuring bicycles, local bike news, etc. It looks like strictly a sales catalog, but people aren’t buying that way now. They buy value, which equals price plus a sense of belonging and support, which often trumps just price.” But Mr. Sloane felt that even as a sales mechanism, the site falls short. “The pictures of all bikes are small and look the same,” he said. “There are no key words set up for organic search. The site should be arranged with an attractive catalog, call-to-action specials and a shopping cart that stands out and is easy to find.”

In an e-mail message, Mr. Kuhn, who said he was attending to his sick mother, said that he was “overwhelmed” by all of the feedback to his story: “My plan is to take all of the responses to the article and use everything I can.”

Mr. Kuhn did not address comments from some readers that he was not committed to building a business, though he did say he intended to develop a three-year plan, as Mr. Townley and several readers advised. He did, however, take exception to suggestions that he is not committed to cycling. “I have been working very hard for over 35 years full time and to question my love of bikes makes me upset,” he wrote. “My father and I worked side by side from the day I could walk until he died. We traveled to Europe and coached riders together as well as the day to day at the shop.”

As for Mr. Kopp’s immediate financing concern, several readers suggested S.B.A. loans to refinance the present debt. (One suggested breaking the refinancing into several different S.B.A. component loans for the different types of debt.) But the most common suggestion was that Mr. Kuhn simply sell the building and relocate, or lease the space back. If the building is really worth as much as he thinks, they said, he could pay off his debt and plow the rest into his retirement or back into the business — and find a bigger space for less elsewhere.

But Mr. Kuhn said that selling the building would be a last resort. And, in fact, he reported that sales have improved dramatically of late — so much so that refinancing has become less pressing. He said the shop is “increasing turnover and focusing on our most profitable areas and dropping some that are not.” Business, Mr. Kuhn concluded, is “the best in years.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=667f4304d8b5ef53e8cf03336958d759