Today is a big day for E.W. Scripps, the company that owns the Record Searchlight. 

It split into two companies: E.W. Scripps and Scripps Interactive.

The new E.W. Scripps is responsible for the broadcasting, newspaper and licensing and syndication businesses,

Scripps Interactive controls companies like HGTV, DIY, the Food Network, basically the popular, gifted, high-achieving Scripps kids.

Kind of begs the question: What will come of Scripps’ newspaper business, especially in an era when all newspapers are in trouble?

Consider this: E.W. Scripps stock price peaked on May 27 at $48.54. On June 30 it fell to $41.54, a drop of 14.67 percent.

Leading into the breakup of Scripps, this is not exactly a vote of confidence by investors.

Consider this June 6 AP story, “E.W. Scripps Co., the broadcast and publishing company which plans to split into two companies July 1, expects newspaper revenue to drop between 8 percent and 10 percent in the second half of the year.” Stories like this are more and more common.

A sharp decline in May advertising revenue for the country’s largest newspaper publishers shows the economic slowdown is adding to the sector’s woes, Goldman Sachs said in a note to investors Thursday.

With that in mind, Ken Lowe, the former president and CEO of E.W. Scripps, must be thrilled to no longer being connected to the company’s problematic newspapers, now that he’s in charge of Scripps’ trendy, profitable, cool interactive companies. 

See what you think of him on this video of Ken Lowe.

If I were a betting man (which I’ve been known to be on occasion) I would give the new Scripps Interactive stock a second look. Barely a few days old and trading in the low $3 range with a projected 30 cents per share dividend, it looks very attractive.

Combined, the Scripps interactive properties have annual revenues of a reported $1.4 billion

There are probably still some out there who think newspapers will turn around.

Give me a call, I’ve got some buggy whips to sell you.

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