Blindsided Boston Globe employees -- still reeling after The New York Times Co. put the Hub paper up for sale again -- are slated to come face-to-face this morning with a top Gray Lady exec for the start of what could be a messy split, including the likely demand for contract talks from the paper's 10 unions, insiders said.
Oh, sure. We all know how much the Times supports unions, right? Right? Hello?
"People are very nervous and scared, very scared," said one longtime Globe staffer, who requested anonymity. Another compared the paper's pending sale to "a divorce, a bad divorce."
Heh heh heh heh...
| The poor darlings. One's own suffering always seems so much more painful than anyone else's. |
Ah. Town hall meetings. I would PAY to be there to see this. I see much whining and teeth gnashing, rending of garments. Words like "brigand" and "scalliwags"...
"We are certain you have many questions," Mayer wrote to staff in a broadly circulated email.
So long, suckers...
Golden's presence could rub more salt in the wounds at the Globe, where most staffers learned of the sale from a Times press release.
"There are a lot of vice presidents who didn't know anything, and they are not happy about it," one staffer said.
Probably why they're vice presidents at the Globe...
The sale's announcement, which one Globe boss said was slated for Monday before the press release hit the wires Wednesday, apparently caught newly minted editor Brian McGrory off-guard as well, according to staffers."He said he found out the same way the rest of us did," said a Globe reporter who attended a newsroom meeting. "His message was, 'Stay calm, stay focused. It is what it is.' "
Wow. I'd follow him to Heck. And back...
Word of the sale comes almost two months after all 10 of the Globe's labor contracts expired, prompting some union brass to say the sides will need to come to the table now before a new owner emerges.
C'mon, dammit! We gotta get together NOW and screw the new guy while we got the chance!!
Among the Globe's likely suitors is Rick Daniels, a former Gatehouse Media New England president and Globe exec, who is reportedly eyeing a bid with Stephen Taylor. Taylor's family sold the Globe to the Times for $1.1 billion in 1993.
Wow. Shrewd. At least for the Taylor's...
Analysts said the sale could fetch anywhere from $100 million to $180 million, assuming the Times takes on the tens of millions of dollars in the Globe's unfunded pension obligations. Alexia Quadrani, an analyst with JP Morgan, said she "wouldn't be surprised" if the Times absorbs that.
Make 'em spend it ALL!