Amid the ongoing changes in the industry, the company also announced plans to introduce lower-cost subscription models, part of a broader growth strategy detailed on Thursday.
The company is remaking itself in the face of the struggles in both print and online advertising. In the first quarter, net income was $3.1 million, or 2 cents a share, down from $42.1 million, or 28 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Income from continuing operations declined to $3.1 million from $8.7 million a year earlier.
Total revenue from the quarter declined 2 percent to $465.9 million. Over all, the company’s advertising revenue declined 11.2 percent to $191.2 million from $215.5 million. Print advertising at the company’s newspapers, which include The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune, shrank 13.3 percent. Digital advertising revenue declined 4 percent.
In a continuing bright spot for the company, circulation revenue grew by 6.5 percent as The New York Times stepped up its digital subscription initiatives and raised prices for its print edition. The number of paid subscribers to the Web site, e-reader and other digital editions of The Times and The International Herald Tribune grew to 676,000, a jump of almost 49 percent from the same quarter the year before. Digital subscriptions to The Boston Globe and BostonGlobe.com rose more than 50 percent compared to the same time the year before, to 32,000 subscribers.
“Our first-quarter results reflect our continued strides in reshaping The New York Times Company,” Mark Thompson, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We will be rolling out other strategic initiatives designed to further leverage The Times brand and newsroom to create new products and services for a wider range of customers, domestically and around the globe.”
At the same time the company released its quarterly earnings, it unveiled more details about a growth strategy that it will introduce in the fourth quarter of this year and early next year. Mr. Thompson said that the company planned to provide more varied subscription plans that would allow readers to pay less for access to “The Times’s most important and interesting stories” or to content in politics, arts or food. For avid readers of The New York Times, a premium subscription would include services like access to events at The Times. The company also plans to get more involved in brand extensions, like games and e-commerce, and growing its conference business to bring in more revenue.
“We want to deepen our relationship with our existing loyal customers, but we also want to use a wider family of New York Times products to reach new customers both here and around the world,” said Mr. Thompson. “The initiatives we are announcing today should be seen as a significant first step in our effort to put The New York Times Company on a path to sustainable growth.”
In recent years, the company has been trying to pare down its assets to focus exclusively on its flagship, The New York Times. In 2012, the company sold its regional newspapers to Halifax Media Holdings. It also sold its remaining stake in the Fenway Sports Group. In the fourth quarter, the company benefited from a $164.6 million gain for selling the company’s stake in Indeed.com, a jobs search engine, and the sale of About Group, the online resource company, for $300 million.
The sales are expected to continue. In February, the company announced plans to sell the New England Media Group, which includes The Globe, Boston.com, The Worcester Telegram Gazette and Globe Direct, a direct-mail marketing company. Days later, the company said it would rename The International Herald Tribune as The International New York Times and said it planned to introduce a redesigned Web site that catered to international audiences. The rebranding is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of this year.
Times executives said they remain hopeful that the economy will pick up later this year. The company expects total circulation revenues to grow by the mid-single digits in the second quarter. Total advertising revenue should improve as well, the company projected.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/business/media/times-company-reports-a-drop-in-income.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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