Sentimental billionaires keep answering the journalistic SOS

By Alec Hogg

When the first internet waves were washing up at newspaper doors, some of my old media compatriots in the US started demanding someone should "do something". Their solution was for philanthropists to cough up money so journalists could keep writing. It looked fanciful to me. But from recent developments, clearly wasn't.

There's growing momentum as well. Latest billionaire to join the newsprint owning crew is Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff who with wife Lynne this month acquired the venerable Time magazine for $190m. It won't put much of a dent into Benioff's ample wallet whose net worth is a touch short of $7bn.

Benioff is in good company. In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250m. Last year Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, acquired the majority shareholding in 160 year old The Atlantic. In June, SA-born, Wits trained biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong (65) acquired the LA Times and its cousins for $500m.

But the man who got the whole train rolling was none other than Warren E Buffett who, in 2011, got the hearts of newspaper die-hards fluttering when acquiring his hometown Omaha World Herald in a $200m deal. That was one of the few times Buffett overpaid for a declining asset. Showing even the Oracle is not immune from occasional jolt of sentiment.