Hardly a day passes without a story about The Independent being for sale. The latest, today, comes from Dan Sabbagh in The Times.
He writes that Tony O'Reilly and his son, Gavin, "have conceded that the level of the losses The Independent is now incurring are unsustainable."
He moves on to explain the problems besetting their company, Independent News & Media (INM), not least its £1.24bn debt burden and the "critical" £180m bond that is due to be paid next month.
He believes that The Independent's financial position "means it is unlikely to fetch more than £1" but its sale would cap a retreat for the O'Reillys, who stood out for so long against calls by the second largest shareholder, Denis O'Brien, for the ailing title to be sold off.
Though Sabbagh says that O'Brien "has been more diplomatic" since his three nominees joined the INM board last month, "insiders say that they are now exerting considerable influence." That has given Sir Anthony and Gavin little choice but to respond.
But I note from an Irish Times article on Saturday that O'Brien was specifically asked at a seminar about his views on the fate of The Independent and its Sunday stablemate. He replied:
"My view hasn't changed. Either they are going to break even or we have to sell them."
He also said: "I just can't believe the situation that INM finds itself in at the moment... we are trying to save the business."
To that end, as Media Guardian previously reported, O'Reilly Snr and O'Brien are understood to be prepared to spend £27m of their own cash to agree a refinancing deal with recalcitrant bondholders.
