Friday, June 14, 1935: Minneapolis Star sold
Posted on December 26th, 2006 – 8:08 PMBy Ben Welter
The Cowles family of Des Moines, Iowa, bought the Minneapolis Star for $1 million in June 1935. The purchase was announced on the front page of the Star, accompanied by a note from the new owners that painted a bright future for the publication despite a depressed business climate.
The new Star, according to the late George Hage, a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota, “redefined the meaning of news” with an emphasis on sports, photography and “sensational” writing and presentation. “Readers flocked to the Star,” Hage wrote. “Between 1935 and 1939, the Star’s circulation jumped from 75,770 to 150,056.”
The reassuring language used by the new owners in announcing the 1935 sale parallels that used by the principals of Avista Capital Partners, a private equity firm that today announced it is buying the Star Tribune for $530 million. Here’s what the new owners told readers 71 years ago:
In purchasing control of The Star we are joining forces with John Thompson and George Adams and their associates to try to help them realize their ambitions to make The Star one of America’s great liberal newspapers. All of The Star’s present executives and employes remain under the new ownership.
The Star will continue to be a paper for all the people – not just for one group or class.
The Star will continue to be politically and financially independent.
It will continue to present the news fairly, accurately, concisely and honestly, to confine its own opinions to the editorial page, to respect views with which it may not agree, to be a growing force in the development of Minneapolis as a splendid city in which to live and to work.
It will continue to balance enterprise with decency and to seek to be a source of information and entertainment in every home.
We have bought control of The Star for many reasons:
First, we like the spirit of The Star and the men and women who are making it.
Second, we like Minneapolis and think it has a great future.
Third, we know that The Star’s progress during the last ten years is one of the newspaper marvels of the country. We think The Star is going to go ahead at an even faster rate from now on, and will be increasingly able to perform genuine public service for the people of Minneapolis and the northwest. We think The Star likewise will have a great future from the business standpoint, and will have a large measure of success because it deserves it.
Fourth, we think better times are coming. Sooner, possibly, than most people imagine.
We plan many improvements in The Star. It will be even a better, more satisfying paper in the future, we hope, than it is now.
DAVIS MERWIN
JOHN COWLES
GARDNER COWLES, Jr.
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| The sale prompted President Roosevelt to send a congratulatory telegram — potentially worth hundreds of dollars on eBay more than 70 years later. The Star published the telegram on page one the next day, along with the text of other attaboys from around the country. |
6 Responses to "Friday, June 14, 1935: Minneapolis Star sold"
I hope Avista’s ownership will be as good for the Strib as Cowles and McClatchy. Miss you guys, wish I was there!
I hope Avista does some cleaning house. They knew what they were getting based on the offer and acceptance of a low-ball price.
Obviously, Anders knew what was coming and ran away prior to the ship sinking. Get out the life-boats, the liberal ship is going down.
This Fish Wrapper is being sold for less than 1/2 the purchase price 8 years back. N. Colman writes about it - predictably and naively. Colman’s attitude that an investment company that owns energy concerns is not fit or good for him or others at his company. Then leave – you’re a part of the problem which is quantified by a $500 billion drop in value over eight years. Colman is, in my opinion, symptomatic of the problem with this paper - they resist change by not adjusting or reacting to the dynamics of the market when they should have been planning to compete in a technology information environment. As McClatchy shareholders demand better performance, this business unit stunk the place up. Has anyone looked at the layout and design recently? What the hell is “The Buzz”??? If the new owners make the needed changes to improve the contributors, content and overall performance, then I might consider a subscription…I dropped mine when their headlines read “Homeowners Who take Tax Deduction Are on the Dole” and then called Al Checci a Werewolf.” Checci saved NWA from the corporate raiders who buy companies then break up and sell the assets for a good profit. Colman and this Fish Wrapper just don’t get it. This newspaper is not relevant.
I was absolutely certain the new owners’ goal of making the Star “one of America’s great liberal newspapers” would attract some comment.
Opinion on changes:
Your headlines; take note from some of the other larger competitive newspapers . Many times I have read stories inside the paper that should have been on the front page instead of what was there. Get your priorities straight. Maybe a new editor?
The next thing is your sales rep.’s.; Just because someone has a degree in marketing or any degree does not mean that they can close a deal. A good portion of those hired because of their degree cannot close a sale. Remember you did not need a degree many years ago when people were selling door to door and out of the trunks of their cars. Companies are always looking for “fresh out of college” people that have no experience dealing with people and have no clue about life or what to do to close a sale or how to build relationships. (This does not mean that an education is not important.) Relationship skills you either learn over life or you just don’t have it and as far as closing either you can do or not. This goes for your inside rep’s and telemarketers also. You can be bigger and better with the right staff.
I would also suggest that you not do what the St. Paul paper did working in conjuction with Career Builder for your job website. Your job website is excellent. Your housing website is horrible though, working in conjuction and not being user friendly. I would set the housing website up like your job website.
Your t.v. guide; needs the movie previews listed in the back like they used too, not just who is starring in them. Only a select few have this. I am not sure why this was changed but it was not a good move. People want to know what they are letting their kids watch, they also want a clue what kind of movie they are getting into. In today’s world there are alot of offensive movies out there.
Keep in mind alot of people get the paper only for a certain section, the t.v. guide, sports, entertainment, looking for a job, you get the picture.
Delivery; making sure that those hired to put the papers together and deliver them are putting all of the ads and inserts in, this should include those delivered to stores and newspaper boxes.
as a past newspaper employee, I have no doubt that the nameing of Par Ridder was the death knell for the Strib….the Ridders’ were at one time an honored name within the publishing industry, but the new generation lack the honor that B.H. Ridder Sr. brought into his acquisitions…Good luck to all at the Strib…
