Well, what do you know? The Financial Times's media correspondent was on the money (see posting immediately below). But what does Trinity Mirror's decision to sell two of its regional divisions and the Racing Post mean for its future? Will this amputation be enough to stave off complete collapse?
There have obviously been some shrewd financial calculations by the ceo, Sly Bailey, and her board, but there is a way to go yet with lots of imponderables. Can Bailey obtain decent prices for the assets she is selling off? Will the realisation from those sales be used to invest in the business, or will it merely pay down debt? My guess is the latter. If so, the amputation of this leg and an arm will be followed by yet another crisis in a year or two.
What the national - and remaining regional - titles require is love and intelligent investment, notably in expanding its rather poor online products. (The Mirror websites have nothing like the number of users regularly viewing The Sun's sites).
As for the quality of the bits being sold off, the sports division is certainly a worthwhile buy - including the Racing Post - which saw off a recent competitor, The Sportsman - has been a lone success for Trinity Mirror in recent years.
TM's South-East division isn't in too bad a shape, though it needs rethinking and, of course, investment. But the Midlands division is an entirely different matter. Its Birmingham Mail is in a terrible state, failing to recover after a scandal over its circulation fiddling. Who is going to offer money for that, I wonder.
Even if those sales go off well, the Daily Mirror and its stablemates, the Sunday Mirror and The People , will still face a tough future under this company's ownership. Bailey has shown scant understanding of how to make them compete properly against their rivals. I had been hoping against hope that someone else would step in. They deserve one last chance to reverse the decline, though The People is surely too far gone for any chance of resuscitation now. The rot has set in at TM's nationals, and any more cost-cutting will ensure their deaths.
