Word: felker
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That is not how the power game has turned out for Editor Felker, 51. Last week two of the biggest potentates in publishing battled for the feat of Clay. The combatants: Katharine Graham, 59, board chairman of the Washington Post Co., which in addition to the D.C. daily owns Newsweek, the Trenton Times and four TV stations; and Rupert Murdoch, 45, buccaneering Australian proprietor of ten major newspapers and eleven magazines-including, as of last week, New York City's afternoon daily the Post, where he is editor in chief. Up for grabs: control of the umbrella New York...
...weeks ago, sensing that some major stockholders had tired of his profligate ways and wanted out, Felker confided to Murdoch his fear that he might lose editorial control of the company. Next thing Felker knew, Murdoch was negotiating with the biggest (23.8%) stockholder, Manhattan Socialite Carter Burden. In near desperation, Felker turned for help to Kay Graham, an old, close friend. By week's end, Murdoch seemed to have the upper hand after the bidding had gone to $7.50 a share for stock that had been traded over-the-counter for $2 a month earlier, raising the paper value...
Managerially, the triple Felkerburger-New York, Village Voice, New West-had become something of a monster. Says a company insider: "With one magazine, Felker could get away with his highly personalized approach. But it's impossible with three publications 3,000 miles apart...
...Bottom Line. Start-up costs of New West, originally estimated by Felker at $1 million, ran over $3 million. Though New West is fat with ads and has a heady 240,000 circulation, expenses are outstripping revenues. Village Voice is still profitable, but its net income has dropped since the takeover. Thus, for the first time in years, N.Y.M. Co. will post an operating loss...
...Felker's personal grandeur may match his managerial overreach. Since last spring he has asked for: 1) a 25% increase in his 1975 salary of $120,461. 2) the wherewithal to buy a house in Long Island's ducal Hamptons, and 3) company purchase of his super-duplex. His directors, in New York parlance, cut him off at the bottom line...