Bite hard

Interesting that details of the sale of the Boston Globe group by the New York Times come two days after an upbeat market update by CEO Mark Thompson - and on a day when markets are closed. It might be the right business decision, but the cash sale, to John Henry, at $70m still represents a $1 billion loss on the price paid by the NYT in 1993 - never mind operating losses and other write-downs along the way. And the NYT still keeps pension responsibilities.

• The Boston Globe's own take on the deal swipes at the Times ownership thus: The Times Co. is selling the Globe for far less than the $1.1 billion it paid for the paper in 1993, when the business was highly profitable and the Globe fetched a record price. The Times Co., like other business owners, withdrew a large stream of cash from the Globe during its ownership — a sum at least equal to the purchase price, according to several former high-ranking Globe executives.