New York Daily News publisher considering sale, says internal memo

The publisher of the New York Daily News has hired a financial firm to explore the possibility of the sale of the nearly century-old tabloid, according to a copy of an internal memo accessed by the Los Angeles Times claimed to have obtained.

In the memo, issued to the staff of the newspaper last morning, publisher and owner Mort Zuckerman said he had been asked last month about his interest in the sale of the tabloid.

"Although there were no immediate plans to consider a sale, we thought it would be prudent to explore the possibility and talk to potential buyers and/or investors," Zuckerman wrote.

According to Zuckerman, he recently hired a financial firm Lazard to advise him in the event of a sale.

"I appreciate that this news is difficult for you to digest," he wrote. "But I want to reassure you that my aim throughout this process will be to do the right thing for the business to ensure the Daily News and its brilliant staff have the best opportunity to achieve all our future ambitions."

The Daily News' circulation has been declining  in recent years, much on the lines of other newspapers, according to data collected by the Alliance for Audited Media and figures contained in the newspaper's own media kit. According to The Audited Media report, the paper's total print circulation was 431,519 at the end of March 2013, but last year, the newspaper put its own print and digital replica circulation at 338,944.

''The immense hard work in turning the business around in an extremely challenging period for the industry has put the Daily News in as strong a position as it has ever been, particularly online,'' Zuckerman said in the memo, Bloomberg reported. ''My aim throughout this process will be to do the right thing.''

As readers moved online, where news organisations could not charge as much for ads, print owners had had to fire workers and sell assets.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence, advertising revenue at print newspapers in the US was projected to decline 6.4 per cent this year.

The Daily News had seen sales decline for years and in the six months ended 30 September, it had an average weekday circulation of 427,452, down 41 per cent from 10 years earlier, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.