Its time for the latest quarterly reports on the financial performance of media.
The New York Times company posted second-quarter losses of $83.67 million - blaming some of the loss on the need to write off the debt from About.com (the Times sold About.com to the folks running Ask.com - but had to absorb the search engine's existing debt as part of the deal). The Times seems to have stopped hemorrhaging subscribers, but still face too long-term negative trends - a general decline in newspaper circulation and readership that's been going on for a half century, and high fixed costs. The Times still has a bloated editorial side, and faces increased production and distribution costs for the printed newspaper.
Gannett posted corporate profits of $119 million in the second quarter. Their acquisition of a social media advertising firm should help the company exploit the growing online advertising market.
The Washington Post also managed to post a profit of $51.8 million in the last quarter, up 13% from the previous year. Company profits still derive predominantly from its for-profit educational division, Kaplan Ventures. However, Kaplan revenues fell some 84%, and the print division still operates with heavy losses - the Post company's profits came from its cable and broadcast operations, which was the only division reporting increased operating profits. As for the Washington Post newspaper, circulation continued to decline (average daily circulation down 9.3% from last year, while print advertising revenues dropped 15% ($9.9 million). The newspaper division, which includes the online edition of the Post and Slate.com, saw combined revenues fall 7%, losing $15.9 million last quarter (including $3.4 million in severance packages for news staff and other write-offs).
NewsCorp, posted profits of almost $1.8 billion in the second quarter, meeting its earlier earnings estimates
Source - Mixed News for Newspapers, The Motley Fool
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