Sunday Tribune goes into Receivership

hotmail.com

Sad news for the Sunday paper, the tabloid format didn't reverse their fortunes.

Source RTE.

cson

Here's the link; http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0201/tribune-business.html

ArtSmart

wow.

was on the cards, but pity. some great journalism.

wonder will they get a buyer...

imme

The newspaper The Sunday Tribune has been placed into receivership, it has been announced.

Would you miss it if it were not around anymore. The paper has been struggling, circulation wise, for some time.

Spread

Perhaps time for a quick relaunch. Get your hat Vincent :eek:

IRE60

No closure is welcome. It was on the cards all the same.

Last ABC they were at about 43,300 - once you strip out the bulks which, not to but too fine a point on, they abused at around 20% of their 'circulation'.

The main benefactors of any copies would be the SI and ST and IMS. I cant see much more than 20,00 (if that) going to the three.

I cant see them getting and investor unfortunately.

There has to have been a sea change on the INM strategy - that's the second paper they are investors in that they have jettisoned in the past 4 weeks.

jmcc

Sorry for those who will lose their jobs but it was inevitable. The handful of good journos should be headhunted immediately but the mediocrities will find it hard. But then this is Ireland and the incestuous state of the Irish media not only encourages mediocrity, it employs it.

Regards...jmcc

sataction

If it is losing 2.5m per year it will be hard to get an investor.
A good paper but it should have been selling for €2 not €2.70 could not compete with Sunday Times for the same money.
The magazine was awful and was only fit for the bin.
A review section should have been included in the main paper and forget the
magazine.

coylemj

It was the sad victim of a predatory move by Tony O'Reilly who purchased 29.9% of the Tribune to block any potential takeover, exactly the same stunt that Michael O'Leary pulled off when he bought 29.9% of Aer Lingus. O'Reilly was then happy to let the Tribune hobble along as a placeholder in the quality market but it was pretty obvious that it was never going to get the investment to allow it to compete with the Sindo.

Holding just under 30% of a company means that you are not obliged to make a full takeover but your presence is a deterrent to anyone else from taking over the company because they need 75% to forcibly buy out the minority shareholders.

O'Reilly was afraid that the Tribune would be taken over by the Irish Times or one of the quality UK sundays as an entry to the Irish sunday market. He can now congratulate himself that he achieved his objective, the contraction in advertising means that there is no possibility of any new entrant to this market in the foreseeable future so the Tribune has outlived it's usefulness and is being thrown to the wolves.

Corsendonk

Trying to wrack my brain when I last bought it, must be over 5 years ago when I gave up reading the Sindo. I do remember it had a good sports section but wasn't really a fan of the rest.

The media seems to have only good things to say about it today but if its such a source of good Irish journalism shouldn't the circulation be higher for a quality paper?

doomed

Very sorry to see Tribune go. Hard to believe that Irish people don't want an Irish quality paper on Sunday. The SPB doesn't count because it doesn't have a sports Department. Tribune was not brilliant but better than anything else available and had some really good writers like Diarmuid Doyle, Michael Clifford, David Kenny and Shane Coleman.
Where do they go now? Best of luck to them.

I don't buy the Sindo with its self-regarding mediocrity, tacky coverage and the incessant desire of its "journalists" to press their lips to the posterior of their owner. Last time I bought it was for the free CD - just put the paper in the green bin outside the shop.

There is a market for it undounbtedly. Sort of Jedward for adults.

outandabout

Yes, sad to see it go but in a way it's remarkable it lasted so long.

A circulation of 46,000 compares with about 100,000 at the paper's peak.

In my opinion the Tribune's demise was caused by a combination of bad management and lack of investment.

It also lost some of its best writers who were headhunted by the Sunday Times, Indo and Irish Times or who decided to leave for other reasons (Johnny Watterson,Sean Moran, Brendan Fanning, Dennis Walsh, Paul Kimmage, Paul Howard, Gene Kerrigan to name but a few).

Hopefully the Trib workers will find work with other papers and media but I can't see anyone wanting to buy the title.

Firetrap

Agreed - as a regular reader I'm sorry to see it go. There's a poor choice of newspapers on a Sunday if you want to buy an Irish paper. What's left? The Sindo which is a nasty rag masquerading as a broadsheet. The Sunday Business Post which is a niche paper. The Sunday World is an unashamed red-top. The Sunday Times and the Irish Mail on Sunday are essentially British papers with some Irish pages slotted in.

Murt10

I have been buying the ST for past 20 yrs. I'm wondering what 2nd sunday paper to buy now. SBP 1st paper.

Damned if I'll put a red cent into the pocket of Dr Sir Anthony Tony O'Reilly.

Don't like Sunday World, Irish Sunday Mail and the UK tabloids.

Havn't bought the S Times since they put up the paywall as a protest.