Its like raaaaiiiin on your wedding day

The newspaper industry underwent a period of massive consolidation during the latter part of the 20th Century. This was a result of new digital technologies that predated the rise of the internet but facilitated the sharing of articles from a single newsroom across different newspaper titles within a single company. This meant newspaper owners achieved economies of scale if they owned multiple newspapers titles and media owners such as Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch amassed large fortunes on this principle.

The internet first promised and then delivered these same digital technologies to everyone else and the large newspaper conglomerates are finding it hard to adjust to the dynamic digital environment they are now forced to operate in. A common strategy for coping is to continue consolidation.

It is interesting to highlight that the same enabling technology that generated the economies of scale in the newspaper business when democratised have negatively impacted newspaper revenue.

But hindsight is always 20-20.