While most newspaper stocks peaked over three years ago and continue to sink, advertising is migrating to the Internet and circulation is weakening across the board, the only people who seem to want to get into the newspaper business these days are ... billionaires?

In his Turnaround Letter, published in Forbes, George Putnam points out that Rupert Murdoch, Sam Zell, Ron Burkle, Eli Broad and David Geffen are all billionaires, all very successful businessmen and have all recently tried to buy newspaper companies.

But why?

Except for Murdoch, all the men became wealthy through other industries (Broad and Zell in real estate, Burkle in supermarkets and Geffen in music), so what do they know about the newspaper industry, and what do they see in newspapers?

“Powerful franchises, for one thing,” Putnam writes. “For example, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal must be among the best-known brands on the planet. Even if the declines in readership for the papers cannot be stemmed, the brands can be transferred to other media such as the Internet.”

Putnam also points to good valuations. For example, while New York Times stock trades at one times sales, while Google trades at nearly 12 times. Newspaper stocks also pay healthy dividends, he states.

“And there is a certain ego factor involved in owning a newspaper,” he writes. “Sam Zell, in particular, has a well-earned reputation for buying assets that no one else wanted and turning a large profit on them, earning him the nickname 'grave dancer.'”

To read Putnam's review of newspaper stocks, and what billionaires might be thinking about them, click here.