The bottom lines about today's newspapers

It isn't news that newspapers are in a major financial freefall. Tony Ridder could buy back the Knight-Ridder empire for pennies on the dollar.

But those newspapers that switch to online versions eliminate about 85% of a newspaper's costs for such things as presses, paper, ink and trucks. And nearly 67% of homes have an Internet connection. The Plain Dealer is among the papers expected to push its readers from reading the printed paper to looking at its product online.

About 80% of newspaper revenue comes from advertising, which has plummeted amid competition from the Internet and zillions of local stations and cable channels. Newspaper profit margins have dropped from the 20% to 30% of the golden era to 10%, which still is a profit margin that many businesses would kill to have.

Based on current newspaper values, the $5.4 billion that Rupert Murdoch paid in 2007 for Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones could buy Gannett, McClatchy, New York Times Co., Washington Post Co., A.H. Belo and E.W. Scripps and still have $750 million to spend on other projects.

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