Seattlepi.com formally launched March 18, 2009, a day after the nearly 146-year-old P-I published its last edition on newsprint, leaving The Seattle Times as the city's only newspaper printed daily. The P-I's owner, New York-based Hearst Corp., had been losing money with David McCumber at the newspaper for years and hoped the online version will change that.
When it made the switch, the P-I let go most of its 181 employees. About two dozen now report the news and run the Web site.
PLEASE SEE:
One year ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its last print edition and became an online-only publication. As news organizations experiment with new business models, Hearst's experience in Seattle may offer lessons.
In a piece last year about the change, SeattlePI.com Executive Producer Michelle Nicolosi asked, "Is it possible to run an online-only local news site that serves a city's readers well while turning a profit?"
Linda Thomas of KIRO-FM spoke with Hearst Seattle Media General Manager Pat Balles and reported that the site is not yet profitable:
"[Balles] says they're on track to make a profit, though he won't say when. Hearst Corporation is a privately-held company, and [Balles] says stock holders will be the first to know when they've turned the corner. At the least, he says, they are not bleeding $1 million a month they lost with the print operation. It's estimated that in 2008 Hearst lost $14 million in Seattle.
" 'I like to think of it as it's an ATM that maybe the parent company was making deposits into. Eventually they'd like to get a withdrawal out of this ATM, this investment, and I think it's totally viable to do that,' Balles says."......
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