Obama’s Victory Propels Newspaper Sales

By Ben Haber

November 6th, 2008

Before his first official day on the job, President-elect Barack Obama was already able to help out the struggling newspaper industry by boosting their sales – in some cases – through the roof.

The New York Times saw a huge increase in demand, and their front page paper is already being auctioned off on eBay for upwards of $100. People have been standing in line for hours at their main office just to get their hands on a copy of Wednesday’s paper, which was sold out and needed to be re-printed.

The Silicon Alley Insider posted a list of the top eBay bids for some newspapers around the country (updated as of this morning):

• $122.50 for the New York Times
• $100.00 for the Chicago Tribune
• $51.00 for the Chicago Sun-Times
• $51.00 for the Los Angeles Times
• $41.00 for the New York Post
• $28.76 for the Chicago Daily Herald
• $26.00 for the Chicago Northwest Herald
• $16.50 for the Rockford Register Star (IL)
• $14.49 for the New York Daily News
• $12.50 for USA Today
• $9.49 for the Indianapolis Star

At least the newspapers can enjoy one day of high demand before everyone goes back online.

Entry Filed under: Internet, Mainstream media