The Wall St. Journal reported this morning that the Times could close the Boson Globe within a month unless significant union concessions are made.

Since being purchased in 1993: "The Times Co. in the last two years has written down the value of its New England properties by nearly $1 billion. Barclays Capital's Hale Holden in December valued the Globe at between $12 million and $20 million. Pressure on the Times Co. has intensified lately to shed noncore, underperforming assets like the Globe, which now is losing well over $1 million a week, people familiar with the paper's finances said."

What has the Times Co. tried to do to stem the tide of mounting loses? Let's see: they took the innovative bold step to put one ad on their front page. Anything else? Not much. Here is a crazy idea - maybe if they made their pricing more transparent and their product more affordable they would sell more ads. It seems to be working for the Boston Herald.