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Washington Post Profits Drop Sharply

May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Net income was $4.7 million, or 64 cents a share, an 85 percent drop from $31 million, or $4.07 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

The company said the results were influenced by $25 million in costs attributable to early retirement, severance and restructuring. The company also suffered from a $4.6 million foreign currency loss.

Income from continuing operations declined to $6.1 million, compared with $13.4 million in 2012.

The company’s total revenue for the quarter rose slightly to $959 million. But overall, newspaper division revenue declined by four percent to $127.3 million. Print advertising at The Washington Post dropped by 8 percent, to $48.6 million, primarily because of decreases in retail and general advertising.

The Washington Post newspaper also suffered from a decline in circulation as the company introduced price increases for its daily home delivery and its newsstand sales. Average daily print circulation declined by 7.2 percent to 457,100 and average Sunday circulation declined 7.7 percent to 659,500.

Its digital properties were more promising. Revenue driven mainly by washingtonpost.com and Slate jumped by 8 percent to $25.8 million. While revenue from online classified advertising on washingtonpost.com dropped by 6 percent, online display advertising revenue jumped by 16 percent.

The company’s Kaplan education division also contributed to its losses. Its revenue declined by 3 percent in the quarter, to $527.8 million, as it continued to incur restructuring costs. The company said in a news release that it expected more restructuring costs in the coming months.

There were a few bright spots in the earnings report. Revenue from the cable television division grew 5 percent in the first quarter to $200.1 million. Television broadcasting revenue also grew by five percent, to $85 million, because of growth in advertising.

The figures reported Friday reflect the steep financial challenges The Washington Post is facing as more readers migrate to digital formats. According to the latest earnings report, The Post started in February to further trim its newsroom staff through incentive programs. It also closed in March on the sale of The Herald, a newspaper based in Everett, Wash., with a Monday through Friday circulation of nearly 42,000.

The company also announced during the first quarter its plans to move out of its downtown Washington headquarters to save money. A real estate broker said it was likely the company would sell the building to a developer who would raze it and rebuild on the location.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/business/media/washington-post-profits-drop-sharply.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Times Company Posts Loss on Write-Down

July 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The New York Times Company reported on Thursday an overall loss in the second quarter as print advertising continued to struggle, dragging down growth in online advertising.

The net loss of $119.7 million was due in part to a noncash write-down of $161.3 million to reflect the declining value of its Regional Media Group, which includes newspapers like The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Tuscaloosa News and The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif. The per-share loss translated into 81 cents, compared with a profit of 21 cents a share, or $32 million, in the period a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items and severance costs, the company’s operating profit in the quarter was $82.9 million, compared with $92.6 million in the period a year earlier.

Revenue declined 2.2 percent, to $576.7 million from $589.6 million, in large part because of a 4 percent decrease in advertising. The company said a 2.6 percent increase in online advertising revenue partly offset a 6.4 percent decline in print advertising. Operating costs declined by nearly 1 percent, to $525.2 million in the quarter, the company said.

The company did see encouraging growth in subscriptions to The New York Times’s digital editions, a sign that consumers were responding favorably to a business gamble that few American newspaper companies have been willing to make.

Since March, when the paper introduced its metered model, The Times has signed up 224,000 paying subscribers to NYTimes.com in addition to 57,000 others who pay to receive The Times on e-readers like the Barnes Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle.

Home delivery orders also ticked up, helping to slow the rate of decline in print circulation revenue. Over all, the company’s circulation revenue for the quarter was flat at $234.9 million, reflecting the print declines and the introductory 99-cent rate for digital subscriptions. Circulation revenue was up 1.6 percent at The New York Times Media Group but down 5.4 percent at the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe, and down 1.7 percent at the regional papers.

As the introductory rate expires and more customers begin paying the full price, which starts at $15 every four weeks, The Times expects to see more of a benefit to its bottom line.

“The digital subscription model is a long-term effort, and its full impact on revenues will be more evident over the course of the year as we progress past the early stages of the plan,” said Janet L. Robinson, the chief executive.

Ms. Robinson added that the digital subscriptions would provide the company “with a significant new revenue stream in the second half of this year.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=106af09d3addc7d7f0a2192526bdbfa1

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Times Company Profit Falls on Weak Ad Revenue

April 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The New York Times Company reported a sharp drop in net income in the first quarter as the print advertising market remained stubbornly depressed for newspapers.

The company said net income fell 57.6 percent to $5.4 million, compared with $12.8 million in the quarter a year ago.

The weakness in print advertising, coupled with an unexpected drop in revenue at About.com, led to earnings of 4 cents a share before special items are excluded, compared with 8 cents a share in the period a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter dropped 3.6 percent to $566.5 million. Total advertising revenue declined 4.4 percent, but the performance by advertising sector varied widely. At The New York Times Media Group, which includes the namesake paper, NYTimes.com and The International Herald Tribune, the decline was 1.9 percent.

Digital advertising across the company grew 4.5 percent. As a percentage of the company’s total advertising revenue, digital was 28 percent, up from 25.6 percent a year earlier.

At the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe, advertising revenue fell 5.1 percent. At the Regional Media Group, which includes local newspapers from Florida to California, the decline was 9.7 percent.

About.com, which experienced a loss in visitors after Google refined its search algorithms, saw a 10.2 percent drop in revenue.

The results did not reflect any revenue from the start of an online subscription model for NYTimes.com, which began after the end of the first quarter.

For the first time, the Times Company provided information on how digital subscriptions were faring. The company said that since it started limiting the number of articles readers could read on NYTimes.com for free, it has signed up more than 100,000 subscribers. While it said the program was still too young to judge a success, “early indicators are encouraging.” Subscriptions start at $15 every four weeks, but many subscribers have so far paid discounted introductory rates.

 The company said it was optimistic that digital subscriptions would help improve the bottom line in the second quarter.

 “While the challenges for our company and for the larger economy are not yet behind us, the recent launch of the Times digital subscription packages on NYTimes.com and across other digital platforms brings our plan for a new revenue stream to life, offering us another reason for optimism about the future,” the chief executive, Janet L. Robinson, said.

 Operating costs at the Times Company were essentially flat at $535.4 million. Rising newsprint costs continued to weigh on the company. They rose 12.7 percent, offset partially by other factors, including a drop in circulation. Circulation revenue fell 3.7 percent, to $228 million.

The company ended the quarter with $352 million in cash and short-term investments, a lower amount than at the end of 2010 because of $54 million in pension contributions.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6fe27ff5f386ce82df68d54244dda79f

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