Daily BrewConrad Black hints at a return to the newspaper industry
Shortly after his release from a U.S. prison this past spring, The Canadian Press wrote a story suggesting we'd see a different Conrad Black.
The national news service interviewed Black's friends and colleagues who opined that the former media baron would be calmer, less bombast and more averse to publicity — a "Conrad Black lite" if you will.
In reality, however, it's the same old same old.
In the midst of his very public battle to keep his Order of Canada, Black, 67, is in the media spotlight again hinting that he might want to get back into the newspaper industry.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, Black recently spoke of the "untapped value in some of Canada's legacy newspapers."
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Although Black maintains he is not actively looking for an opportunity to invest in newspapers, he said some of the legacy titles are leaving money on the table. And at times his guarded responses and unwillingness to provide detail suggested a man planning a comeback as opposed to a retiree content to fade into the background.
Most tellingly, perhaps, Black declined to respond to questions about how he would leverage the cache of a well-known newspaper to better adapt to and thrive in the new media landscape, lest he reveal too much about his intentions.
"It's not that I don't have an answer, but I'm not going to answer because it might be an untimely and excessive disclosure, and compromise what I might actually do," he said.
Black, the founder of the National Post newspaper, would face significant challenges if he tried to re-enter the Canadian newspaper industry after a 12 year absence.
Canadian tax laws favour Canadian ownership, allowing the paper's advertisers to deduct the cost of buying ad as a business expense.
And, as the Globe and Mail points out, because he isn't a Canadian citizen, his stay in the country isn't even guaranteed, let alone his business career. Black is in the country on a one-year temporary-resident permit, although he would like to once again become a Canadian citizen.
Moreover, a lot of the major newspaper properties in the country are bleeding money, which makes them questionable investments at best.
Nevertheless, there's no better way for a 'publicity seeker' to stay in the media spotlight than by owning a piece of the media.
Like it or not, the old Conrad Black is back.
