Extra: Post Saved!

The showdown had all the breathless drama that readers of the tabloid New York $ Post (circ. 480,000) have come to expect. Australian-born Media Baron Rupert Murdoch, selling the Post to comply with a federal ban on owning a newspaper and broadcast station in the same city, had threatened to shut down the paper unless unions agreed to $24 million in cost reductions. Murdoch said he needed the cuts to complete the sale of the paper to New York Real Estate Developer Peter Kalikow for $37 million.

But as a 2 p.m. Friday deadline neared, the Post and its unions remained $3 million apart. Rather than stop the presses, Murdoch agreed to stop the clock. At 1:50 a.m. Saturday, the unions consented to $21 million in concessions over the next three years and Murdoch agreed to make a $3 million contribution to restore some pay cuts for remaining employees. The agreement saved the Post from printing its final edition after 187 years.