Singapore Press Holdings 01 (May 08 - Nov 11)

[kennynah]

san mei mei....i dont consider 700 paying customers as a majorly viable business....

[blid2def]

I recalled reading that Shareinvestor has only some 300 paying subscribers. This is a small base.

Eh... must be mistaken right? 300 is very small leh.... counting Singaporeans only? The press reports I've just Googled say about 7,000 across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. But then again, that's paying subscribers for their financial products & services altogether; I assume that automatically means forum subscribers as well.

Anyway, no comments on SI itself since I haven't been there for ages. Stopped visiting after they initiated the paid subscription things. Anyone remember Fundollar over there? He tracked old Wee's moves like a hawk. Hahaha...

[iam802]

buy 1-get-1 free

subscribe 1 year-get 3 years free.

be a subscriber for FREE!

----
Who knows? Not so important lar. 300 or 7000 , it is still a small number.

[kennynah]

i subscribed to their services many years ago...and stopped after i found it not suitable for me....i remember i paid SI about $100 or so for 1 year's access...

[helios]

whatever it is, SI or SO businesses might not sustainable.

sellouts are companies exit strategies.

[kennynah]

then it's curious as to the reason for SPH's acquisition of SI ? if not for revenue generation, then for what purpose?

[iam802]

to kill Edge off.

Turn it into a monthly magazine. ??

[kennynah]

i suppose if this is a strategic reason for buying a liability, but achieving some synergistic objectives...then perhaps the cost is justifiable... but my inexperiences tell me that some corporate chiefs may not make the best decisions always...

[millionairemind]

Dec 4, 2008
SPH cuts costs to keep jobs
By Chua Hian Hou

THE economic crisis will hurt earnings, but multimedia group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has taken cost-cutting measures to help staff keep their jobs as far as possible.

These include freezing wages of senior management and slowing hiring this year to counter a recession that may last 'several quarters,' said SPH chairman Tony Tan on Thursday.

'This is a multi-sector, global phenomenon - quite unlike anything we have seen since the 1930s,' said Dr Tan, Singapore's former deputy prime minister who is also the deputy chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), at the company's annual general meeting at News Centre, Toa Payoh North on Thursday morning.

'With its global linkages and open economy, Singapore will be buffeted by the global economic storms.'

In anticipation of a slowdown, Dr Tan said SPH has earlier this year 'slowed down our hiring, instituted a pay freeze for all senior management staff'.

The company, which has some 3,000 employees, has also 'tightened our operations and strengthened our financial resources', he said.

These measures should help SPH 'ride out the downturn although it will be painful'.

Singapore is currently in a recession. The government has cut Singapore's growth for the fourth time this year and warned that it may even contract next year.

SPH shares was 1 cent up to $3.51 as at 1pm.

New media - a threat, an opportunity, and how to get there profitably - cropped up again at the AGM.

Shareholders raised question after question on this issue, from its continued losses in this area to how it would recruit talent to propel its multimedia initiatives forward, at the hour-long meeting.

SPH CEO Alan Chan said while SPH remains a highly profitable publishing business that enjoys the 'best (profit) margins in the world', it recognises that publishing is a 'mature industry'.

Thus, it has no choice but to 'prepare for the inevitable ... if the tastes of readers shift' away from mainstream media like newspapers and magazines and invest in new media, he said.

While it continues to suffer losses, such investments are necessary so as to 'sow the seeds of a bigger tree', he added.

In recent years, SPH has launched new online products like its citizen journalism site Stomp, online TV channel The Straits Times Razor TV. It has also made acquisitions in this area, including popular tech forum HardwareZone and Shareinvestor.com.

Mr Tony Mallek, executive vice-president of finance, said the company has no direct exposure to 'toxic investments' and a small, indirect exposure to Lehman Brothers, adding that the impact of the Lehman-linked investments is 'insignificant' to SPH's business.

[iam802]

Recently, I renew my mobile plan with M1.

SPH has a tie up with them offering some free 'news feed' for the first month. Essentially, what they are doing is send you alerts or SMS to news that you are subscribed to.

Each news category eg. Singapore News, World News etc will cost about $3-$5 per month.

SPH is in the media business, why do they think the news are worth so much?

They are not Reuters, Bloomberg etc. So, what makes the information time sensitive?

To me, all these are useless. I went on to unsubscribe from all these 'freebies'.