The New York Times Company has agreed to sell its Boston Globe newspaper and other New England media assets to the owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team for $70m in cash，a steep discount on the $1.1bn the publisher paid for the newspaper in 1993.
纽约时报公司周六(8月3日)宣布，同意以7000万美元现金将《波士顿环球报》和其他新英格兰媒体集团资产出售给波士顿红袜棒球队所有者约翰·亨利。这一价格与纽约时报公司1993年收购该报支付的11亿美元相比已大打折扣。(《金融时报》)
《波士顿环球报》是美国最负盛名的几家报纸之一，目前发行量在美国报纸中排第17位。该报创刊于1872年，从1873年开始就由波士顿的泰勒家族拥有，直至被《纽约时报》收购。当时的收购价格创出了美国报纸收购史上的最高记录。
The Times said the all-cash sale，expected to close in 30 to 60 days，includes BostonGlobe.com，Boston.com，The Worcester Telegram & Gazette，Telegram.com，the direct mail marketing company Globe Direct and the company’s 49 percent interest in Metro Boston，a free daily newspaper for commuters.
纽约时报公司称，此项全现金收购计划预计将在30天至60天内完成。除《波士顿环球报》以外，此次出售的资产还包括：《波士顿环球报》网站、Boston.com、《沃塞斯特电讯报》及其网站、直邮营销公司Globe Direct以及免费日报Metro Boston的49%股权。(《华尔街日报》)
The Times announced in February it was putting the Globe and related assets up for sale four years after calling off a previous attempt to sell it. The company’s CEO said at the time selling the Globe would help the company focus attention on The New York Times brand.
纽约时报公司在2月宣布了出售《波士顿环球报》及相关资产的计划。公司首席执行官表示，出售《波士顿环球报》将有助于公司集中精力于拓展《纽约时报》品牌。早在4年前，纽约时报公司就曾宣布过出售《波士顿环球报》，后又取消了该计划。(《华尔街日报》)
The New England properties were the last pieces of a once much bigger New York Times Co empire. The company has sold off everything - TV and radio assets，dozens of U.S. regional papers，digital companies，and its stakes in sports ventures - to focus solely on its flagship and international edition.
新英格兰媒体集团是昔日强大的纽约时报公司所剩无几的分支之一。为了专注于旗舰业务和国际版业务，纽约时报公司已抛售了电视和广播业务、数十份美国地方报、数码公司和其在体育企业中的股份等大量资产。(路透社)
Like many US newspapers，the Globe has been hit by a slump in advertising revenue with circulation declining.The Globe enjoyed a weekday circulation of more than half a million in the early 1990s，but this has fallen off as readers migrated to the internet.
同许多美国报纸一样，《波士顿环球报》深受广告收入大幅下降和报纸发行量减少的冲击。在90年代初期，《波士顿环球报》的工作日发行量为逾50万份，但由于读者转向网络，发行量便每况愈下。(英国广播公司)
The Globe isn’t the only newspaper to see a huge drop in its price at sale time.In April 2012，Philadelphia’s two largest newspapers sold for $55 million，a fraction of the $515 million paid by a group of investors in 2006.
《波士顿环球报》并不是唯一出售价格大幅下降的报纸。2012年4月，美国费城两家最大的报纸以5500万美元的价格售出，该价格仅为2006年投资者为其支付的5.15亿美元收购价格的一小部分。(《华尔街日报》)
Driving these deals，one way or another，is the collapse of the newspaper print ad market over the past few years—which shows no signs of stopping.U.S. print advertising fell 55% from 2007 to 2012，according to the Newspaper Association of America. A further drop of 6.2% is expected this year，and a 6.8% decline next year，predicts Magna Global，a division of IPG Mediabrands.Another media agency，ZenithOptimedia，expects total ad spending on newspapers to fall 8% annually in the years ahead. At that rate，the total market for print newspaper ads would be reduced to less than $10 billion over the next decade from $49.3 billion in 2006.
促成这些交易的一大原因是过去几年中报纸平面广告市场的衰落，这一状况目前仍没有停止的迹象。根据美国报业协会提供的数据，美国平面广告从2007年到2012年间下滑了55%。IPG旗下盟博广告公司的分支玛格纳环球预测，预计今年该市场将再下滑6.2%，明年将下降6.8%。另一家媒体机构实力传播集团则预计，报纸的广告总开支在未来几年中将每年下降8%。按照这一速度，在未来10年里，整个平面报纸广告市场将从2006年的493亿美元萎缩至不到100亿美元。(《华尔街日报》)
The newspaper industry has struggled to stay afloat amid the digital transformation. Big US city newspapers，such as the Boston Globe，have been particularly hard hit. Metro newspapers historically generated a larger portion of their revenues through classified ads，making them especially vulnerable to the rise of the web and direct online competitors such as Craigslist.
报业发展在数字化变革的过程中举步维艰。《波士顿环球报》等美国大型都市报更是受到严重打击。在地铁上发行的报纸的销售收入中，很大一部分来自于分类广告，这使得这类报纸在面对网络的崛起和来自Craigslist等广告网站的直接竞争时格外脆弱。(《金融时报》)