Why Hedge Funds Are Doing This?
Is this a conspiracy or good ol' greed?
Welcome to this week's edition of Above The Fold. And to all the new subscribers since last week - thank you, and good call!
According to a study done by Financial Time, in 2021, it was shown that hedge funds and private equity firms controlled half of US news outlets, including some of the largets ones.
Sometime in 2021, Tribune Publishing, the parent company of the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and many others, was acquired by Alden Global Capital for $630 MM. Alden also controlled more than 200 US news outlets at the time.
Many other revealing articles by major news outlets like Economist, Seattle Times, and NPR have confirmed this phenomenon.
Now, let's out aside all the tinted glasses, and look at this from a logical point of view.
“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind (of the masses).”
This is a timeless quote by Jim Morrison, that can definitely be applied to this situation.
Hedge funds and private equity firms are in the business of dealing with masses in bulk. That's a fancy way of saying if people didn't do business with the companies that they invest in, they'd go bankrupt. If people didn't rally up the stocks that they'd bought, they wouldn't be able to get out of those trades and realize their gains.
Basically, it'd be game over for them.
So they NEED people's attention. Much more than they need funds.
Easiest way to get that attention? Just go and buy where people already pay enough attention to.
Since the current downtrend of newspapers and magazines, it creates a sort of a vacuum for either new ownerships, or new outlets. New ownership makes much more sense because everyone is already familiar with the existing names, and they're getting decades worth of branding and market equity for pennies on the dollar.
And once they start to really utilize those resources, that's when they'll start to make real money.
Now, you don't have to be alarmed by this, unless you're someone who follows mainstream media to the comma, and makes life decisions based on them. If that's the case, your future looks grim.
The moral of the story, and the plug for growth marketing, is to never underestimate the power of attention, even if the methods are old school. Chances are, it's on someone's war plans. Better that someone be you than your competitor.
So if you don't want to be left in the dust, I suggest you start taking action about cultivating some sources of attention.
Till next week.
-Jay.