Dan's Papers - May 6, 2008 - Newsday For Sale, Billionaires Battle For It

As you probably know by now, Newsday, a highly profitable newspaper, is up for sale. And that's because it is the centerpiece of a chain of daily newspapers around the country that are failing.

The rich Long Island real estate billionaire, Sam Zell, bought this chain of papers, which includes the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, for practically nothing last year. And though he knew that Newsday, the profit center of the chain, was worth a half a billion dollars, he also knew he might have to sell it if the cards didn't fall right. Well, they haven't.

There are three bidders for Newsday, and I know them all or at least have opinions about them all, and I thought it might be helpful to tell you what I know.

The first bidder is Rupert Murdoch. He has an enormous organization of countless TV stations, radio stations, magazines and newspapers. Last week he seemed to be the winner, making a handshake deal with Zell to buy Newsday for $580 million. Within hours after it was announced, federal regulators said this just might be too many medias in one big metropolitan area for one mogul to own. They wondered if it could get approved. So it's iffy.

What would Murdoch do with Newsday if he can consummate the deal? Well, his track record in New York is mixed. He left the Wall Street Journal alone after he bought it, although he did spice it up a bit. That was good. But he completely changed around the New York Post after he bought it, turning it into a gossipy, snickering braggart that everybody is appalled with when they are not otherwise secretly and delightfully reading it.

Newsday? Well, Newsday does seem to have lost its focus these past few years. Murdoch will be sorely tempted to give it the same sort of gossipy feel that the Post has. He might even combine some of the editorial services, having reporters write for both papers.

One can see headlines that read "BUTTAFUOCO MAY RETURN TO LI" if Joey Buttafuoco, the long time ago auto mechanic who once lived here, were to be induced to say that in his current digs in LA. "PHOOEY TO CABLEVISION" might be another headline if Cablevision announced a rate hike.

Newsday doesn't deserve such a fate. It is the only daily on Long Island, and it's the tenth largest newspaper in the country. And Long Island surely needs at least one daily to give it a serious point of view. And there is only one daily on Long Island.

The second bidder in this war is billionaire Mort Zuckerman, an East Hampton resident who has made his money in publishing and real estate.

Zuckerman owns the New York Daily News, a bitter competitor to the New York Post, but without the nasty attitude. Zuckerman makes money publishing the Daily News while Murdoch loses money publishing the New York Post. Zuckerman! He also publishes U. S. News and World Report and The Atlantic, and he owns numerous skyscrapers in town.

I know Zuckerman because we've been locked in an annual duel, he as the perennial pitcher for the Writers at the Artist-Writers softball game, and me as the umpire calling balls and strikes over his shoulder. We've been out there together each year for about 15 years, so yes, I'd say I know him at least a little bit.

I'm kind of rooting for Zuckerman to come out on top in this battle. On Friday, he matched Murdoch's offer to the penny, a very smart move. So now he's at the same money but without the regulation problems.

Finally, in the mix, is the third bidder, James Dolan, owner, along with his father Charles Dolan, of Cablevision.

Cablevision was, for nearly 20 years, who you had to pay if you wanted to watch television on Long Island. They had a monopoly they held tightly for that long, and as I am also in the media business, I felt it was not democratic for them to quash all competition.

The playing field has changed since those days, however, and I'm willing to forgive and forget. Charles will go down in history as a great TV programming genius, having created HBO, BRAVO, A&E, the History Channel and News 12, and he bought the New York Knicks, Madison Square Garden, the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall and several other entertainments.

But now, as he has started to retire, it's clear that the son lacks the flair his father had. Just look at the sorry mess he has made running the New York Knicks. Although I do confess that James is a better businessman.

Newsday sure would be a perfect fit for the Dolan media and entertainment empire. And they do know how to run a monopoly. Except there is one problem. The Dolans have never before published newspapers. And only God knows what they might do with Newsday if they owned it. The latest news is that the Dolans have now formed a partnership in this effort to buy Newsday with the new young owners of the New York Observer, who obviously have had that experience.

Not that anybody asked me, but my hope would be that Zuckerman prevails. He has both the common sense and the business sense to run it. And his track record shows a sensible respect for serious editorial.

Maybe this little plug will be just the thing to tip the scales in favor of Zuckerman.

I also hope that my pick would result in Zuckerman arguing with me less at the annual ball game, which this year will take place on August 16 with Zuckerman pitching and me standing behind him trying to see if where he put it was where he was supposed to.

In any case, stop by the Artist-Writers game and watch if you like. A lot of people do. Money raised is for charity. It is held at the sandlot baseball field behind Waldbaums Market in East Hampton, with the first pitch thrown (50% chance it's by Zuckerman) at 3 p.m.