Business

Daily News firings fuel white knight rumors

While the Daily News completed its move to new and nicer facilities downtown in recent weeks, that hasn’t stopped some familiar themes from emerging: longtime executives are still getting whacked and the ever-present rumor mill is churning that a new suitor is just over the horizon to rescue them from current owner Mort Zuckerman.

First the fact: the Zuckerman-owned daily earlier this week let go of a 24-year veteran, Senior Vice President of Sales Joe Stella. The axing triggered new rumblings that more cuts were on the way.

Stella could not be reached for comment, but was said to be responsible for movie, entertainment and auto advertising and was the No. 2 ad executive. Like many newspapers, the News has struggled coming out of the recession and Zuckerman, after installing the all-new color presses in New Jersey, is said to be discouraged of late, and not as actively interested in the paper as he once was.

The Stella axing dovetails with another rumor that has circulated inside recently: that DNA Info, a hyperlocal Web site that covers Manhattan, is mulling a possible takeover of the daily.

That would seem to be akin to a minnow swallowing a whale. But consider the fact that DNA Info is bankrolled by the billionaire Ricketts family, which made its fortune in the online brokerage business by founding TD Ameritrade. The 18-month-old site has hired a number of veteran journalists recently.

Former Chairman and CEO Joe Ricketts is still on the board of directors of TD Ameritrade, along with his son, Tom, and both still hold a substantial amount of stock in the company.

Joe Ricketts is intrigued by the digital news business and is the key backer of DNA Info. The word is that he would like to expand to other cities after New York is established.

He was on the Forbes 400 list, with the family holdings valued at $1 billion two years ago, but he fell off the list last year.

Tom Ricketts is chairman of the Chicago Cubs, which the family bought from the bankrupt Tribune Company for $900 million.

So what does Zuckerman have to say about the Ricketts family’s interest? “I never heard of them. I never met them. I never had dinner with them. The first time I heard of them was when a reporter named Keith Kelly called me up and asked me about them.”

A spokesman for the Ricketts family would neither confirm nor deny the rumor. “We have a standing policy of not commenting on rumors and speculation,” said spokesman Alfred Levitt.

Newsmax

Newsmax Media, the right-leaning news org that is bucking trends by aiming for readers in Heartland America in the 50+ age bracket — and growing in the process — is also bucking the trend on the real estate front.

Instead of following the likes of Condé Nast, the Daily News and American Media Inc. by heading downtown, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy is moving his small but growing New York wing operation from the Grand Central area to a 5,500-square-foot operation overlooking Bryant Park.

“I think you have to be in Midtown, that’s where the action is,” said Ruddy, who is still basing most of his 150 employees in the West Palm Beach HQ that has become a favorite stopover point for everyone from House Speaker John Boehner to former President Bill Clinton to Donald Trump as he toyed with the now-abandoned idea of running for president.

And in the age of cutbacks, Ruddy appears to be making good on his claim to keep hiring journalists. He said the New York office will have space for 35 people, which will include more editorial as well as advertising and marketing personnel.

His staff now includes Editorial Director Steve Coz, who was editorial director of American Media when the National Enquirer emerged as the town crier in the O.J. Simpson trial, as well as Ken Chandler, one- time editor of the New York Post and Boston Herald, now the editor of News max.

Ruddy said the company had 2010 revenue of about $52 million. He wanted to reach $70 million, but he said that the soft stock market placed a damper on that. Still, he anticipates revenue will grow to the $60 million to $70 million bracket. The company, founded in 1998, turned cash-flow-positive in 2002, he said.

kkelly@nypost.com