Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports

End of an era, passivity prevails and no joke about the GOAT

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MEDIA: No Room for Newsrooms

As I scanned the New York Post online, I picked up, appropriately enough, a story about the shuttering of the physical newsroom in New York of The Daily News, the Post’s rival tabloid newspaper in New York.

The two papers have slugged it out for years so the closure of the Manhattan newsroom for one of these publications is a pretty significant moment, especially for those who live or work in New York. (For more flavor on what the tabloids were like in their heyday, check out this scene from The Paper, a great movie about a fictionalized New York city tabloid.)

The Daily News will continue to operate and continue to churn out a print edition — its employees just will be working from home, not the newsroom in Manhattan, like they have been since March.

Tribune Publishing, which owns The Daily News, will also be shutting down physical facilities at other papers it owns around the country.

Pink's Bottom Line

Newspapers are caught in the crosshairs of two major trends that are gaining strength seemingly by the minute: digitization of content and working from home. The coronavirus has acted as an accelerant to the shift to working from home while the digitization of content has been impacting newspapers for many years.

A weak economy will only further accelerate these trends, driving newspaper owners to consider more cost-saving moves. As such, I am expecting more closures of physical newsrooms around the country.

MONEY: Passive or Active

It’s just about the one-year anniversary when passive investing reached somewhat of a milestone. For the first time, there were more assets in passively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds than there were in actively managed funds. Passive investments include index funds like the popular Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) index funds.

There are two primary reasons why investors are going the passive route. First, fees in passive funds tend to be lower than those in actively managed funds. Second, and most notably, the performance of an index fund tends to be better over the long-term than the performance of an actively managed fund of a similar asset class.

That’s why I found the following from Wednesday’s Morgan Stanley’s 1% Move Report, which the bank’s wealth management division releases every time the S&P 500 moves up or down at least one percentage point, so interesting.

It said, “The richness, crowdedness and concentration of the S&P 500 Index, along with our belief that US Treasuries are unattractive and that the US dollar is ultimately poised to weaken, has us also pursuing high levels of asset class diversification with above-average exposures to SMID stocks, international equities and commodities.” (SMID stocks are small and mid-cap stocks.)

Pink's Bottom Line

Essentially, Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit appears to plan to diversify into assets like small and mid caps, international stocks and commodities in part due to the “richness, crowdedness and concentration of the S&P 500 Index.”

I will be keeping my eye on whether or not the overall market will indeed show a rotation into these assets or if there is any significant movement away from S&P 500 index funds.

SPORTS: Major Opportunity in Men’s Tennis

Novak Djokovic, currently the top-ranked men’s tennis player in the world, says that he will play in this year’s US Open tournament, which begins August 31 in New York. Meanwhile, Djokovic’s two main rivals won’t be playing at The Open this year as Roger Federer is recovering from knee surgery and Rafael Nadal will skip the tournament due to concerns related to coronavirus.

If Djokovic wins the US Open, and his odds of winning now are much higher than if Federer and Nadal were playing, then he moves closer to having the career record for most major titles won. Federer holds the men’s record for the most major tournament wins at 20. Nadal has 19, and Djokovic has won 17 Grand Slams.

Many feel that the player who has won the most major titles at the end of his career should be considered the best. It’s a race, then, to see who will ultimately hold the most Grand Slam trophies among these three great players.

Pink's Bottom Line

If Djokovic wins his 18th major at the US Open in what looks like a weaker-than-normal field, will that major victory seem tarnished in any way? Federer and Nadal supporters will likely take that position.

Djokovic leads Federer 27-23 in head-to-head matches, including an 11-6 record against Federer in the majors. Djokovic also holds a 29-26 record against Nadal though he has a losing record of 6-9 against him in Grand Slams.

Djokovic is also a year younger than Nadal and six years younger than Federer so Djokovic will likely get more opportunities to win Grand Slams than his two rivals.

I think Djokovic will win this year’s US Open, and that victory will undoubtedly ignite a debate about who’s the best among Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.

When all is said and done, though, I don’t think there will be much of a debate - I think Djokovic will be considered the best of all time. He’ll win the most major titles, and he’ll likely have a better win-loss record against each of his rivals.

Jeremy Pink is former CEO of Broadcast Sports International and a former CNBC executive in New York, London and Singapore. He currently serves as an advisor to companies in media, sports and financial tech.

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