What I want to see before investing in Media Half-a-Cent-ral First in a series of expectations from a prospective share-purchaser
1. Distribution Plan
The only two publications that generate any revenue have not been effectively circulated since March, when Kalish fired all the drivers and distribution workers. No circulation means no audience. No audience means no advertising. NOW Toronto has hundreds, possibly thousands, of abandoned (and often vandalized) pick-up boxes scattered across Toronto. What is the plan to resume distribution of the newspapers?
The new competition, "Next Magazine," has signed up its restaurant advertisers to deliver copies to homes with food orders. If the deal is exclusive to Next, you need to think of another scheme. If the deal is non-exclusive, why wouldn't you ride along?
BTW, the plan announced a few weeks back for rotating home-delivery to certain Toronto neighborhoods on an every-fourth-week schedule is lame, and just plain pointless. It is not a plan.
The recently acquired POS publications, "I Gotta Go" and "Horizontal Travel", have exactly the same identical lack-of-distribution issues.
As a condition of returning to viability, management's first task is to figure out a means to distribute your titles. What is that means?
To be followed by Part II: Leadership Plan