The UnderstandingAhhh yes. We have a low share price. Very low, I daresay.
1. When I played tennis with my younger sibling, I sometimes let him win. I would take the score one way, then let him back in the match. Or I would let him get far ahead in the score, then I would bring the match back to being a more contested one.
2. When I play boardgames, or basketball, or hockey with children, I let them win (eventually).
3. And, heaven help me, I never thought it would come to this, I am now pretty sure that no matter what disagreement my spouse and I are having, our marital state is beyond dissolution.
In all of the above instances, there is an understanding, a profound and unshakeable understanding, of how things ARE, and how they will ALWAYS BE.
In fact, there is almost a pleasure taken in appearing to defy the UNDERSTANDING (to let your younger sibling win, to let children, that a relationship will endure) if only to prove the UNDERSTANDING all the more.
It is my belief, that Torstar, a family business, is built on a similar sort of understanding; an understanding that this company, has great value (lessened though it may be) and that the company and its value will endure with all the strength attributed to the best qualities of the idea known as family.
I believe, the family shareholders look on this shareprice with bemusement; the bemusement that comes from knowing what the situation really is. Outsiders who cannot access this family-view will likley be miffed to say the least (by the string of bad quarters). If you **are** able to manage the mind-trick of seeing Torstar as a family-owner, then you haven't the slightest concern what is happening to the shareprice. And, as I have said before, if things are truly bad, then that same family orientation allows one to say, at least we met our end together---and there is honour in that.
The loss of the dividend takes money out of the pockets of shareholders. If, however, one UNDERSTANDS, as it were, then it is clear that dividend losses are easily made up for by buying shares which ***will*** appreciate.
I predict that these shares are back to $1.00 by January 5, 2020. If accurate, that prediction would mean a nearly 100% increase...which just might be more than a dividend payment woudl have been.