Categories: OLD Media Moves

Bah humbug. No more free drinks at the Financial Follies

Robert MacMillan of Reuters writes that the number of tables bought at the annual New York Financial Writers’ Association Financial Follies table was down this year, and drinks now cost.

MacMillan reports, “Unlike years past, the cocktail hour that preceded the Financial Follies dinner came with a price tag. Mixed drinks and wine cost $11. Water cost $6.

“The reason? The New York Financial Writers’ Association, which holds the Follies at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square, could not get anyone to sponsor the $25,000 tab.

“‘I really think it was a sign of the times,’ said Jane Reilly, executive manager for the association, which holds the Follies to raise money for 10 $3,000 scholarships and to pay for the group’s existence.Â

“The loss of funding of the Follies symbolizes the crisis facing not only Wall Street but many media organizations suffering from falling advertising and, in the case of many magazines and newspapers, circulation.”