Boston Globe considers cutting stock listings

According to an article in this morning’s Boston Herald, the Boston Globe is set to be visited by Arthur Sulzberger, the CEO of parent company New York Times Co., amid concerns that the paper is up for some job cuts and other changes. Among those changes would be an elimination or a reduction in the stock listings.

Herald economics reporter Jay Fitzgerald writes, “Meanwhile, it is contemplating eliminating or reducing its business section stock pages, among other moves.”

The move would not be a surprise. The Times will cut its stock listings beginning with the April 4 paper, it announced last week. Papers also state that most readers now get their stock information on the Internet. And plenty of other metropolitan newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Constitution and Newsday, have cut stock listings in the past few months.

The motive behind such moves is to save on newsprint costs. Some newspapers have replaced the stock listings with editorial content, but most have just reduced the size of the business section, which is bad news for the biz journalism profession.