SPH finally waking up

SPH finally decides to cut salaries after seeing advertising plunges. They should have done it long ago. This shows the inertia and lethargy in a bureaucratic company.

I also proposed that they start buying back shares and maybe cancel them. If not, increase dividend.They have enough cash to do this. This is better than letting the cash sit around or be deployed to projects that are value-destroying since internet is slowly eating up their business.

Today, i read an article in Fortune asking whether e-reader would be the saviour of newspaper and magazine. I am sceptical as people can get free news from the web, not many would buy the reader unless it is cheap enough. Nevertheless, SPH has a monopoly position in the newspaper business and got loads of cash, plus a shareholding in M1 and a prime shopping mall,Paragon. The shares are cheap for now.