The Village Voice is shutting down

[jimsumner]

http://time.com/5384507/paper-village-voice-shuts-down/

[OldPhiKap]

http://time.com/5384507/paper-village-voice-shuts-down/

End of an era. Sad.

[Jim3k]

http://time.com/5384507/paper-village-voice-shuts-down/

This reminds me of the newspaper rollovers of the mid-oughts. Knight-Ridder was doing pretty well until some owners who were venture capitalists/hedge funders decided that it needed to provide a profit north of 15%. It was performing at 9% or so but 15% was not possible. Yet it was not in any real financial bind. Accordingly, these raiders banded together and demanded that the chain be sold off so they could get a better and quicker return. Most of the chain was purchased by McClatchy and much of it survived under the McClatchy banner.

None of the current stories say The Voice was losing money. This raises the question of whether The Voice was making a profit or simply not making a big enough profit for its hedge-fund owner, Peter Barbey. He says he's still looking for a buyer. Inquiring minds want to know.

[sue71, esq]

This makes me super sad. The Village Voice was everything when I was in college (NYU) in the early 90s. 😢