UPDATE: Thoughts (mostly positive) from JR. 

The website disaster bespeaks a culture of decline that goes beyond the newsroom cuts, and will take a real effort to reverse. I hope the cavalry is coming. /update

Buffett buying N&R.

A change in ownership is long overdue. 

Comments

[Dave Ribar]

Do all of the N&R staff have to become parrot-heads?

[Roch]

Will they bring in a new publisher?

[Roch]

"Its website, news-record.com, is the largest and best-read newspaper website in Guilford County."

That's some meaningless terminology if ever I've read meaningless terminology. "Largest" website? By what measure? Height and width? "Best-read?" Huh?

[Brian]

That part caught my eye too Roch. I guess compared to the High Point Enterprise? Does this mean we can get the old N&R website back, which even at its worst, was a lot better than what we have now.

[Hugh]

Does the N&R print the paper at the downtown Greensboro location?

[Kim]

They still roll a boxcar in there about once a week. I always assumed they were delivering newsprint.

[Hartzman]

Warren Buffett said he only paid $6.9 million in federal income taxes
on his $62.9 million in adjusted gross income in 2010.

If Warren Buffet invested billions in a couple of banks during the financial crisis,
did he know about Federal Reserve secret loans
when he invested the money?

If he didn't know, should he have?

Did Warren Buffet know about Bank of America's Secret Liquidity Lifelines
when Berkshire Hathaway Invested $5 Billion in Bank of America?
.
.
.
Insider Trading

Insider trading involves the purchase or sale of securities of a company
or other entity while in possession of material, nonpublic information
(also called “inside information”) about the company or entity.

1. Material Inside Information - “Inside” or “nonpublic information”
is information about a business organization
that is not generally available to or known by the public.

Such information is considered to be “material”
if there is a likelihood that it would be considered important
by an investor in making a decision to buy or sell a company’s securities…

Director Code of Ethics
Wells Fargo & Company

[Joe Killian]

Here's what former N&R editor John Robinson has to say about it.

I think he makes some good points.

[Hugh]

If they still print in Greensboro I wouldn't be surprised to see Buffet offshore that to a Butler Building set-up, move all journalism related staff to another location and sell the downtown NR property.

He's all about efficiency and squeezing blood from stone when it comes to maximizing assets and profit.

[Andrew Brod]

1. I don't think it's actually true that Berkshire Hathaway runs its newspapers that way. In any case, it's not a given simply because BH is profitable. JR's blog post notes a few accounts to the contrary.

2. JR's Facebook feed includes this: "The most fun thing about the sale of the N&R? It was announced on the publication day of the Rhino so that the weekly will be a week late with the story. (Of course, it does give them time to make up all kinds of things.)"

3. Hartzman on a date: "I've talked long enough about my conspiracy theories. What do you think about my conspiracy theories?"

[Joe Killian]

The News & Record does still have its own press. It does print the N&R, and a number of other things, on site downtown.

[Brian Clarey]

The Rhino could always put it on their blog or Twitter feed. Oh wait...

[Lex]

Given what else BH already owns in the 40/85 corridor, makes me wonder if they're trying to buy the HPE and the Durham paper (same owner), too. Might or might not make sense from a business standpoint, but it would be interesting if it came to pass.

Also, does it strike anyone else as odd that hours after that story went up on the N-R website, although comments are enabled, none have been posted?