In addition to the layoffs at the Observer, Hachette has sold five of its special-interest publications, ESPN The Magazine is testing the pay wall, and the fight between the Times Company and the Globe is getting even hotter.

• The New York Times Company is still threatening to close the Boston Globe if union employees won’t agree to new terms, but at least one reporter thinks the company is bluffing and too weak to go through with it. Plus, he calls them (corporate) terrorists! [The Phoenix via Gawker]

• Bonnier purchased five Hachette Filipacchi books, including Popular Photography, for the bargain price of under $5 million for the lot. [Media Ink/NYP]

• ESPN The Magazine is going behind the pay wall. The magazine’s online content will now be available only with a paid subscription to its ESPN Insider service, which costs $6.95 a month. [Romenesko]

• Try to control your sobs: Summit Business Media has been forced to close Mortgage Originator magazine. [Folio]