George Clooney Turns Away Sad Observer Publisher
Britain's Guardian profiled Jared Kushner, and while the Observer owner makes some positive noises about his company, the salient facts are as follows: After two years and a purported 40 percent revenue increase, the paper is still losing about $2 million per year. Kushner said he is " definitely scared about newspapers" and compared the industry to "a falling knife." And despite having Ivanka Trump on his arm, Kushner was recently turned away from fading nightclub Bungalow 8:
In contrast to Ivanka's father, the pair operate discreetly. I witnessed them not uttering a word of protest when turned away from George Clooney's Armani party at Manhattan's Bungalow 8 nightclub in May.
Way to deploy an underhanded compliment, Guardian!
Nightlife embarrassments aside, we're left wondering where the 40 percent revenue increase came from and where the hell it's gone. Is it from the expanded real estate coverage? And if so, what has that revenue stream been looking like over the past, say, six months?
Is the revenue being spent — as it must, since the losses are still there — perhaps online? The Observer is planning a nationwide expansion for its Politicker political blogging franchise (not a bad idea), but it's not clear if capital has been deployed on that yet.
In any case, perhaps the city's club owners could be persuaded to treat young Kushner with a bit more care. After all, we'd hate to see him decide he's not having any fun and go all Ron Burkle one of the last remaining subsidized print operations.