Been having a hard time figuring the right way to re-enter the blog after a summer of many and various excuse-creating obligations. In the absence of a better or original idea, let’s do it with my new favorite joke, and then an observation about something that isn’t particularly funny.
Joke, courtesy of Chuck Eklund (@ChazEk):
Descartes is in a bar and the bartender comes and over and asks him if he want another drink. Descartes pauses for a minute and says, “I think not.”
Poof. He disappears.
Chicago Sun-Times, 09/09/09
Non-joke, courtesy of today’s Tribune:
[Chicago financier Jim] Tyree’s group finally pledged to buy Sun-Times Media for $25 million in cash and assumed liabilities. The bid . . . includes the flagship Chicago Sun-Times daily tabloid as well as 58 suburban papers and their associated Web sites. Tyree’s group agreed to pay about $5 million for the company’s assets and assume $20 million worth of liabilities.
As has been previously noted, this bid to create a “good” STMG out of bankruptcy leaves $600 million or so of liabilities in a “bad” one. That’s good. The non-joke is quantifying the amount of value that has evaporated in order for the assets to be worth $5 million, and here’s one way: Around 2001, the (subsequently imprisoned) Sun-Times executive David Radler mentioned in a phone conversation with my Tribune boss that whenever he, Radler, and Conrad Black got around to selling the enterprise, they wouldn’t take a penny less than $1 billion.
Sorry, investors. Sorry, readers. Good luck, Sun-Times.
Tags: Chicago Sun-Times