Cablevision may be ready to make real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman an offer for the New York Daily News as early as this week, Reuters reported Tuesday.
The amount Cablevision is reportedly willing to pay for the foundering, almost 100-year-old tabloid? One single dollar.
According to Reuters, the television company's offer would be based on the Daily News' recent financial woes. Amid declining circulation, the paper reportedly loses some $30 million per year and invested $150 million in a printing press.
Last month, in a memo to "stunned staff," Zuckerman announced that he had hired an investment bank and would begin looking for a buyer for the tabloid.
“A few weeks ago, we were approached about our potential interest in selling the Daily News,” he said. “Although there were no immediate plans to consider a sale, we thought it would be prudent to explore the possibility and talk to potential buyers and/or investors.”
Zuckerman purchased the Daily News for $36 million in 1993 along with former partner Fred Drasner, and also serves as the chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report.
Cablevision, which is headed by President and CEO James Dolan, already owns the daily New York tabloid Newsday. The New York Post reported in February that the company was on a short list to buy the Daily News, but that shareholders were "looking to get out of the newspaper business rather than add to it."
The New York Daily News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.