Salon.com wants to merge or be acquired

Source: Wall Street Journal

Salon.com is exploring opportunities to merge with or be acquired by another media company, an acknowledgment of the perilous economics of running a free-standing online news organization.

The site was a pioneer in online news, and has endured as a source of high-brow political and cultural coverage and commentary. But 15-year-old Salon has been unable to stanch its red ink. Salon Media Group Inc. has racked up net losses of more than $15 million in the past five years, with nearly a third of that coming in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

Richard Gingras, Salon's chief executive, said the site has made "substantial progress," noting that in the first half of the current fiscal year it cut operating losses almost in half to $1.2 million. He said it is investing more in lifestyle content and less in its core areas of politics and news, as part of an effort to expand its audience and boost ad revenue. But Salon might need to become part of a stable of media properties to stem its losses, he said.

"I think we'd all like to think you don't have to be a media conglomerate to succeed at doing high-quality journalism," Mr. Gingras said. "Right now, the content economy we have today says you probably have to be."

Asked if Salon is more open to a merger or acquisition, Mr. Gingras said, "We are considering all options in that regard." He declined to elaborate on the nature or seriousness of any talks.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704563204575640921476693184.html

Just kidding. I will laugh! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Couldn't resist responding to the news with Curly Bill Brocius' line from "Tombstone" when Kurt Russell tells him "I just want you to know that it's over."

Because Salon can't remain Salon and sell itself to the highest bidder. First Joan Walsh takes a couple of steps back, now this. Yeah, it's all about money...I get that.

Salon was the first progressive site I found way back when.

They did some interesting stuff in addition to the political reporting, such as a CD's worth of MP3 downloads every month that combined well-known and emerging performers. I lost track of them for a while...when I returned, the content was free and I quickly became addicted to Joan Walsh's articles.

Looks like the remaining progressives in the blogosphere will have to take up the slack.