Posted on 02/17/2003 4:33:17 PM PST by spald
FT.com
Salon warns it may close in next two weeks
Monday February 17, 5:10 am ET
By Tom Foremski in San Francisco
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Salon said it has been unable to pay most of its bills since December, including its rent. If it cannot increase revenues or raise money, it would be unlikely to survive beyond February.
In spite of critical acclaim for the quality of its content, Salon's readership has largely shunned its pleas for payment. The company said it was considering new ways to raise money, for example, by selling $5.6m of advertising rights with Cablevision Systems, a deal that might net about $1m. It is also trying to attract additional investors.
Salon was bailed out twice last year by John Warnock, the co-founder of Adobe Systems. But the patience of Mr Warnock and other investors may be reaching an end. The online advertising market continues to be weak and Salon's 47,000 paying readers are not generating enough revenue to cover operating expenses.
Salon said it could cut costs further to a break-even point but that would affect the quality of the online magazine and its viability.
The company went public in mid-1999 as part of an innovative "OpenIPO" pioneered by W.R. Hambrecht that allowed small investors to purchase shares at the initial public offering price instead of limiting such stock to large institutions. However, the company's shares fell after its debut and continued to decline. Salon was delisted from the Nasdaq in November.
It is one of the few survivors of a group of leading online magazines. Cnet's News.com and CBS Marketwatch are profitable ventures but they are specialist publications focused on technology and business news.
"Companies that have advertised on Salon include IBM, Lexus, PBS, Porsche, Universal Studios, Hewlett-Packard, Ford, Sprint, Microsoft, Absolut, ING, Powell's Books, Discover Card and Intel."
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Is this a threat or a promise?
As long as a sunny afternoon,
Beset by pensive posts,
To bloviate their lives away
To readership of ghosts.
LOL. Who cares
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14483
From: Freepers
Suggestion
Update your resumes and send then to Al Franken.
What is that old WWI song?
"We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again!"
excerpt: "Salon's tough, independent voice is needed more than ever. With the Bush administration consolidating its one-party rule and a toothless media long ago abdicating its role as watchdog, the public needs alternative sources of information like Salon to stay informed and alert. This isn't partisan carping; it's the essential function of a press in a free society, and with war and economic crisis looming, it's more critical than ever. And yet docility prevails in the corpulent world of corporate media -- a passivity enlivened only by the raucous Bush cheerleading at Fox News and your local talk radio station."
It isn't selling! Maybe Al Franken can contribute an article for a laugh or two. Yup.
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