A puzzlementSo the junta colonels, led by businessman "Manoverboard," are to be congratulated for taking quick and decisive action. Axing Kalish was a necessary no-brainer. Immediately adding more print titles to the Media Central portfolio is a bright move. Additionally, bringing in managers from the aquisition who can apply any sort of turnaround skills at NOW Toronto and Georgia Straight would be entirely welcome. This part all makes excellent sense.
The selection of a bottom-feeding publisher of giveaway titles as an acquisition target makes zero sense, though.
It looks as if Horizon hasn't produced much of anything at all post-Covid, which would mean they arrive bringing zero revenue. The markets they claim to serve are going to be under water for most of 2021: travel and leisure, and a commuter audience riding to and from business-office hubs. If you were seeking an aquisition based on current and future revenue prospects, you'd keep far away from this little well-under-the-radar oddity, which shares exactly the same ongoing audience-is- under-quarantine dilemma as NOW and the Straight.
Moreover, the content monitization model at Horizon is all pay for play: ie, buy a one-page ad and we'll publish a one-page puff-piece about you. This is at odds with the independent journalism the alt-weeklies have made their brand for decades. It will alienate any old readers who may return to NOW and the Straight, and it will not draw any new readers.
In another good news/bad news element, the deal values Horizon at C$2 million, when the actual appraised value of the enterprise might be around a goose-egg. However, the transaction is all stock, which is good because Media Central shares are also worth around nothing. In balance, this will likely create a nominally bigger pile of nothing, since there aren't any advertisers anywhere champing at the bit to buy space in publications that aren't appearing and no one is looking at.
The real head-scratcher in the press release is mention of a "Kirk McDonald" who supposedly has something to do with Media Central. This part doesn't even seem possible. If such a person exists, he seems to have contributed bupkis to the company during his alleged tenure. There does seem to be a Kirk McDonald on Twitter who spends a lot of time commenting bitterly on newspaper industry events in the U.S.A., and it's always possible this could be the same party. But if it is, he never seems to have anything to say about Media Central, its properties or prospects, or anything that indicates he's engaged in any activities with this group. And if he really has been advising or playing any role with this company for more than a year, that would be a truly serious condemnation of the man, along with whoever theoretically brought him in.