Salon death watch (cont.)
[The Salon death watch commenced about time the dot.com’s went bust. =
Still, it survives…]
salon-248850.php> Why Nobody Wants To Work At ‘Salon’ The recent staff changes at Salon, not to mention their bonkers-crazy = political correspondents, made us wonder how things are holding up at = the famously bi-coastal public company. So we took a little gander at = some of its recent filings with the SEC. Yikes! “Salon has been relying on cash infusions from related parties to = fund operations. The related parties are primarily John Warnock, a = Director of Salon, and William Hambrecht. William Hambrecht [who is = worth $500 million] is the father of Salon’s President and Chief = Executive Officer” Elizabeth Hambrecht. Good hire! Warnock and = Hambrecht also own a ton of Salon stock. “Salon has historically lacked significant revenues and has a history = of losses.” Well, sure. Also, some fancy accounting firm did an audit = that reports “substantial doubt about Salon’s ability to continue as = a going concern, citing issues such as the history of losses and = absence of current profitability.” Also, everyone hates that darn Site Pass, except some geniuses over = there who think it’s going to save them: “As a result of analyzing = the traffic patterns to Salon’s Website, Salon believes that its Site = Pass advertising model, which Salon credits as instrumental in = increasing advertising revenues, and driving memberships to Salon = Premium, inhibits growth in traffic to its Website.” So: fewer = visitors, but better bang per buck per visitor. (How Times Select!) = Things looked up a bit in the last quarter, with advertising revenues = at a “record” $2.8 million and a profit (!) of=97drumroll, please=97 = $200,000. But possibly the best part of last year’s Annual Report is: “Salon is = under budgetary constraints to control expenditures. These = constraints affect editorial staffing levels and the purchase of = content from freelance writers.” And: “Due to Salon’s history of = losses, Salon may experience difficulty in hiring and retaining = highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. Salon may = be unable to retain its current key employees or attract, integrate = or retain other qualified employees in the future. If Salon does not = succeed in attracting new personnel or retaining and motivating its = current personnel, its business could be harmed.” We’ll be looking forward to the 2006 report, which should be out by = early summer. Anyway, it’s no wonder they had to hire Joy Press to do = two jobs instead of one. And maybe they’re paying Glenn Greenwald in = reais? =97Doree Salon 10-K [SEC] 1084332/000126645406000459/0001266454-06-000459.txt>
Salon Third Quarter Results [SEC] data/1084332/000126645407000067/0001266454-07-000067.txt>