Free News Unsustainable, Says Warren Buffett

Koreantoast writes "Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway recently purchased 63 newspapers and plans to purchase more over the next few years, noted during an interview that the current free content model is unsustainable and will likely continue pushing toward more electronic subscription models. This coincides with moves by other newspaper companies like Gannett and the New York Times, which are also erecting paywall systems. Buffett notes that newspapers focusing on local content will have a unique product, which would succeed even if they lose subscribers, because their services are irreplaceable. Is this the beginning of the end of 'free content' for local news?"

No.

[Anonymous Coward]

But it is the beginning of the end for Warren Buffet. He won't be around in 10 years. And like Steve Jobs says "Death is nature's greatest invention" so good riddance to the old geezer.

At least there's the BBC...

[SeanDS]

...which is funded by the British licence fee. As long as the current BBC-hating government don't cripple the corporation beyond repair.

Re:Buffet should be smarter than this...

[Mashiki]

Well he hasn't made money for a bit to be honest, and has made some seriously bad blue-chip gambles that fell flat on their face too. Which has a lot of people wondering if he's simply hit the senile point and he's out of touch with the markets. I remember reading hmm was it zerohedge or somewhere else, that he hasn't made money in over 3 years on any investments he's done.

Re:The End of Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some papers, even though they are "free" may carry some relevant info. The Austin Chronicle is one of those weeklies.

What will happen is that when the "big boys" start paywalling all and sundry, then other news sites will sprout up. There are a lot of journalists out there who need work, and would be happy to do top-tier reporting, the likes of which we haven't seen since the 1990s.

There are also the propaganda sites waiting in the wings, offering news "free" as long as the stories are slanted their way.

Re:The End of Free?

[pepty]

And if it's bad local news, someone else is willing to pay for you to see it. The San Diego Union Tribune was recently bought by a real estate developer. Mostly because it was so cheap he could turn a profit just by selling the land the paper owned, but he also said pretty bluntly that he did it so he could use the paper as a megaphone to promote his own local real estate development plans and political views.