The sale of the Washington Post newspaper is a shock – unless you have noticed that other media empires (Tribune, Time Warner, News Corp) have also separated their publishing assets. But the Post’s parent company should not stop there. Two of its three key remaining businesses are cable and local television stations and both industries are consolidating fast, leaving plenty of scope for more disposals.

《华盛顿邮报》的出售是个震撼——除非你已留意到，其他媒体帝国，如论坛公司(Tribune)、时代华纳(Time Warner)、新闻集团(News Corp)，也都剥离了出版资产。但《邮报》的母公司不该就此打祝其剩余三大核心业务中的两项是有线电视和当地电视台，这两个行业都在快速整合，为进一步的资产剥离开辟了足够大的空间。

The Washington Post Company is ironically titled. The group posted 2012 revenue of $4bn but the newspaper accounted for just $600m of that (most of its revenue comes from the Kaplan education segment). And with the paper only breaking even on a cash flow basis, the $250m sale price is a gift.

华盛顿邮报公司(The Washington Post Company)这一冠名有点讽刺意味。该集团2012年实现营收40亿美元，但该报仅占6亿美元（其大部分收入来自旗下的楷博(Kaplan)教育分支）。而且该报纸仅在现金流基础上达到盈亏平衡，2.5亿美元的收购价堪称一份好礼。

The Post’s shares have surged 50 per cent this year, putting its enterprise value on seven times its forward cash flow. But the cable and local TV assets, based on sector valuations, could easily be sold for more than that. They made slightly more than $1bn in revenue last year. Cable One, as it is branded, has just half a million subscribers. Compare that with 4m for Charter or 12m for Time Warner Cable. The pay-TV industry is intent on shrinking to a handful of national players, so there should be plenty of interest in Cable One. Charter and Time Warner trade at seven to nine times cash flow. Attaching a premium to those valuations would be accretive to the Post, depending on taxes.

邮报公司的股价今年已飙升50%，使企业价值达到七倍于预期现金流。但基于行业估值，其有线电视和当地电视台资产的出售价格可轻松超过这一估值。这两项业务去年营收略高于10亿美元。其“第一有线电视公司(CableOne)“品牌，用户数仅达50万。而Charter有线电视公司有400万用户，时代华纳有线电视(Time Warner Cable)有1200万用户。付费电视行业将萎缩到屈指可数的几家全国性企业，因此对“第一有线”的兴趣应很高。Charter和时代华纳的估值是其现金流的7至9倍。在这种估值的基础上加上一些溢价，对邮报公司来说将是增值的（取决于税收）。

The Post’s local TV group owns six stations. Strong advertising trends and fees from cable companies have led to a flurry of recent deals. According to S&P Capital IQ data, there have been 17 significant acquisitions since late 2011, at cash flow multiples in double-digits.

该公司的当地电视集团拥有6家电视台。强劲的广告营收趋势，以及来自有线电视公司的付费已在近期带来大量交易。据标普S&P Capital IQ数据，自2011年底以来，已发生17笔重大交易，收购价与现金流的倍数都达到两位数。

The Post newspaper was cast off because it was the best choice for the business and shareholders. The company should now take that principle one stage further.

出售《邮报》是因为这是对企业和股东来说最好的选择。这家公司现在应按照这一原则，更进一步。