How Did Joseph Pulitzer Buy a St. Louis Newspaper for $2,500?

David Senra, reading James McGrath Morris, says Joseph Pulitzer bought a St. Louis newspaper for only $2,500 by hiring someone else to bid, a stand-in he called a Trojan horse. Pulitzer knew that an open bid would tell rivals he had spotted value they had missed, and the price would soar. The last time he bought a paper at auction in St. Louis, he flipped it for a $20,000 profit in 48 hours.

The $2,500 price was not the real problem. The paper was losing so much money that Pulitzer added up the cash he had left and the weekly losses and concluded he would run out of money in 17 weeks if he could not turn it around. Three evening papers were competing in St. Louis, so he immediately convinced one of them to merge. The Post, run by its owner, shared his political views. For the other owner, a merger would head off a circulation fight. For Pulitzer, it brought readers and, most important, time.

Pulitzer never makes a deal unless he benefits more than the other party. A mentor warned that Pulitzer did not share power and that the other owner would have to tone down the crude products of Pulitzer's fiery and untamed brain. The other owner did not last. Pulitzer bought him out.