Dreams, Inc., a leader in licensed sports products, has reported a web syndication deal with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, one of the nation’s highest circulation newspapers. The new agreement will provide Dreams another outlet for licensed sports products and provide their new media partner with an additional stream of income. Dreams has previously obtained other major media/newspaper clients including USA Today, the Baltimore Sun and the Boston Globe.

In the new agreement Dreams will provide the design, development, marketing, customer service and fulfillment of an online Fan Shop for their new media partner. The merchandise offered includes a selection of more than 120,000 team products in a variety of categories including apparel, novelties, collectibles, home and office. Dreams will also provide the media outlet with sophisticated Search Engine Optimization (SEO), targeted database marketing, customer service and same day turnaround for shipping products.

Kevin Bates, Dreams’ Retail President and FansEdge Founder, commented on the

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Recently, Harbinger Capital Partners, one of the largest investors in The New York Times Company (NYT), offloaded a chunk of its stake in the company. The investment firm sold about 5 million shares at $8.25 per share, fetching $41.3 million in total. This reduces its ownership interest to 16.38% from 19.94%. The shares of New York Times surpassed the selling price and closed at $8.37 on Tuesday, up 2.6% from the previous day’s session. Harbinger made it clear that it has no intention to shed its entire stake. Harbinger Capital started purchasing The New York Times shares nearly two years ago, at prices ranging between $15 and $20 a share, and investing approximately $500 million in aggregate. The firm incurred a significant loss by selling shares at $8.25 each. The investment firm was looking for a ...

Gold took off yesterday…closing at $1020. Here at The Daily Reckoning, we’re impressed. But we’re not that impressed. Gold, of course, is half of our Trade of the Decade, which we announced almost 10 years ago. We’re bullish on the metal…have been for a very long time. But recent comments in this space have made readers wonder what the Hell is going on…so we will spend a few minutes clarifying.

First, we hope you bought gold many years ago. That would make it simpler. Then, we could say: hold! Gold is an antidote to paper. There is so much paper…and so much more apparently on the way…that the gold play seems like a winner. It’s a bet that the money system that has been around since August ’71 is going to fall apart.

We still think that is a good bet. Our Trade of the Decade remains. Buy gold

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Man of the people Barney Frank is proving how difficult it is for elected officials to learn the lessons of history. In a move that goes beyond dumb, Frank has written a letter to government-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac asking them to relax recently tightened mortgage standards for condominiums.

What part of “subprime crisis” doesn’t blustering Barney get? In March, Fannie Mae said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70% of the units have been sold, up from 51%. And Freddie Mac is due to implement similar policies next month.

But according to Frank this “may be too onerous” and could lead condo buyers to shun new developments, according to the paper.

Frank’s fingerprints are all over the subprime mess and the ensuing credit crunch. Yet he continues to pin the recent collapse on the private market.

The Wall

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The New York Times Co. (NYT) seems sickened with troubles at its Boston Globe unit. A day after its largest union filed with regulators to contest a 23% pay cut, the parent body reportedly initiated efforts to sell the 137-year-old newspaper.

The Boston Globe reported in its Wednesday edition that the Times Co. has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to approach potential buyers for the struggling broadsheet and will seek bids through the next few weeks.

A representative of the Times Co. said, "Because we have achieved the $20 million in savings we needed, we do not foresee closure at this time and are focused on executing The Globe's turnaround plan."

The largest labor union Boston Newspaper Guild rejected $10 million in concessions aimed at cutting costs at the newspaper earlier this week. The Times Co. has however been able to get major

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Advertising mogul Ed Eskandarian is selling his minority stake in the Boston Red Sox to Seth Klarman, a well known Boston hedge fund manager, according to two people briefed on the transaction.

via Boston Red Sox - Minority owner selling stake in Red Sox - The Boston Globe.  

Seth Klarman, the man who wrote the most famous (or infamous) value investing book of the last ten years, Margin of Saftey (read my review), seems to have made a distinctly non-value purchase. While the details of the transaction haven’t been released, we do know that public consensus on the Red Sox’ value is probably in the $1 billion range or at least 40% above the price paid for the franchise in 2002 by John Henry and Co. 

The Red Sox seem to be reaching a crescendo in their illustrious history with regular rookie of the year contenders, an MVP, two world series

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The UpTurn Inc. is a company focused on operating a website where professionals in the realty industry, along with homeowners, buyers and sellers, can be matched with their real estate needs. The company recently launched its Reality on Realty blog, a place where people exchange ideas and information on real estate, with topics ranging from home financing to property tips.

The key to the Reality on Realty current and future success rests upon the award-winning, experienced bloggers who contribute to the blog. The team at Reality on Realty consists of: Sarah Pappalardo, Katrina Munsell and Pamela Reynolds.

Sarah Pappalardo is finishing her M.A. in English at DePaul University. Sarah wrote for a FSBO real estate marketing firm in Chicago. Sarah also has written for many other media sites including Redfin and BuyOwner.

Katrina Munsell says she is obsessed with real estate, having transacted several major

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Highlights include Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Pearson Plc (PSO), John Wiley & Sons (JW.A), The New York Times Co. (NYT) and The Washington Post Co. (WPO).Can Amazon's New Kindle Save Newspapers?Not on its own.Amazon.com (AMZN) unveiled a new, larger Kindle today that publishers of newspapers, textbooks and novels all hope will spur sales.The new Kindle has a 9.7-inch screen, 2.5 times the surface area of the original 6-inch Kindle, launched in 2007, and stores up to 3,500 books, more than double the current Kindle's capacity. The price tag is also much bigger at $489, compared with $389 for the current Kindle.The electronic reader -- which enables consumers to download books anytime, anywhere at a smaller price than the hardcopy version -- has proven popular. According to Amazon, Kindle books now account for 35% of sales of ...

After a week of heated discussions, the New York Times Co. (NYT) finally negotiated a deal with Boston Globe's largest union on Wednesday that could avert closing of the 137-year old newspaper.

While exact terms of the agreement were not disclosed, news sources said it involved large pay cuts, unpaid layoffs and changes to the system of lifetime job guarantees that protect about 300 people in the Boston Newspaper Guild. This was the last of the seven unions involved in negotiations with the Times management and responsible for $10 million in concessions.

Like other newspapers, the Globe has also been hurt in recent times due to slumping advertising revenue and circulation figures as an increasing number of readers prefer the Internet over printed publications. With an expected loss of $85 million this year, the Times Co. threatened to shut down the paper within a month if

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Sources: GM May Drop Pontiac, GMC Brands; Rosetta Stone IPO Soars; Turkey Benchmark Rate at Record Low; Zurich Financial Buys AIG’s Auto Insurance Unit; NYT Will Cut Content; Canadian Factory Orders Rise; Copper Falls on China GDP; Falling U.S. Homestarts; Bankruptcy “Cram Down” Bill Falters in Senate

General Motors Corp. (GM) may drop its Pontiac and GMC brands, as it tries to cut costs before its June 1 deadline to prove profitable or enter bankruptcy protection, sources told Bloomberg. The brands of Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick are likely safe, the sources said. Shares of Rosetta Stone Inc. rose 42% on their first day of trading, as the language-training company’s initial public offering netted $112.5 million, Reuters reported. Rosetta Chief Executive Tom Adams told Reuters it was hard to pick the right share price. “We are ...