Posted on 05/03/2013 8:19:04 AM PDT by abb
Washington Post Co. (WPO) reported Friday an 84% drop in first-quarter profit amid one-time charges and a loss from discontinued operations.
Decreases in print advertising and circulation at its namesake paper have weighed on the newspaper and education company’s earnings in recent years. Washington Post announced in March that it will begin charging readers for access to its paper’s website, after raising circulation prices in January.
The company’s profit tumbled to $5.2 million, or 64 cents a share, from $31.5 million, or $4.07 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue remained level at $959.1 million and operating expenses were also flat.
Discontinued operations, which posted a year-ago profit of $17.6 million, swung to a loss of $1.4 million.
The quarter also was weighed down by restructuring at Washington Post’s Kaplan division, the largest top-line contributor. The company is merging some campuses and halting enrollments at others, moves that are expected to cost $18 million in restructuring charges in the second half of 2013.
In the latest period, the education division narrowed its operating loss but posted a 3% decline in revenue to $527.8 million. Enrollment slid 8.3% excluding closed campuses, or 12% overall.
Washington Post said its newspaper-publishing segment saw revenue fall 4%, as print advertising revenue from the namesake paper decreased 8% to $48.6 million. Daily and Sunday circulation fell 7.2% and 7.7%, respectively.
Online publishing revenue, which largely includes washingtonpost.com and Slate, rose about 8% to $25.8 million amid a 16% increase in display online advertising revenue. Online classified advertising revenue fell 6%.
The cable television business recorded revenue growth of 5.2%.
Shares were trading 1.15% lower at $447.30 in early morning trading.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2013/05/03/washington-post-1q-net-tumbles-84/#ixzz2SF8mCVRt
Ping
Wow, at first glance the lede appeared to read “Washington Post IQ tumbles 84%”...and my thought was...”that little?”
They are charging for access to their website?
Are any other papers having success getting readers to pay on the web? I ask because with literally millions of places on the web you can get news and info for free, why would someone pay for access for one specific newspaper online? Just wondering how viable a business model that is.
Good news indeed. I look forward to the day when Liberals can’t make a living in media.
Not very. The big money in newspapers is (or it was) in classified advertising. Craigslist has hollowed that out, but good. Also, other advertisers are migrating to online. There is no future in ink-on-paper, hand-delivered, day-old news.
Think clay tablets vs papyrus.
This is the devil's candy sold to and bought by every media company who eat up the laughable pie-in-the-sky revenue projections.
Meanwhile, their advertisers are being sold down the river as impressions and click-throughs drop like anvils because nobody can see the ads.
The very people they want to attract as subscribers and/or advertising targets are savvy tech types who can circumvent a paywall in seconds.
But I'm in a charitable mood. I would be happy to drive Eugene Robinson to the unemployment office.
Think clay tablets vs papyrus.
Clay tablets versus the telegraph, maybe? That's a heck of a good comparison, abb, but I have a hunch it needs to be pushed further. I think we're looking at a difference in kind, not mere degree.
I could be R-O-N-G, wrong, too.
I've mixed feelings on the Post, they do occasionally report news, unlike the NYT or LAT which are entirely propaganda machines.
Yeah, that's gonna work.../s
Maybe they should hire a reporter to go out and talk to former RANDOM readers about why they quit buying the paper. They might learn something their survey people aren't telling them.
The good news is our robust economy will absorb any Compost layoffs. Right?
Liberal, extremely biased media is dying...
Unfortunately, some of these liberal, extremely biased media is not dying fast enough before minds are poisoned and misled...
LOL, guess I wasn’t the only one.
I’m going to have a spring in my step all day long...
[Think clay tablets vs papyrus.]
Or papyrus versus movable type.
Yes, newspapers who deliver value to their customers.
Like say, oh, the Investor’s Business Daily, or the WSJ. The Financial Times out of London has had some success, I’ve read, but I don’t know their numbers like I do those of US papers.
Other papers... they don’t really deliver anything of value. What value is there in a newspaper that a) selectively reports news-worthy events, and b) puts every story into a predictable spin-machine? There’s nothing in most major US newspapers that surprises the readers with good, clear-cutting analysis any more. Everything has become a spin job for this administration and their party.
The hissy fit of the LA Times at the mere rumor that the Koch brothers might invest in the purchase of the paper is exemplary of their group-think.
The SOCIALIST DEMOCRATIC FOOLS running this paper are so ignorant they don’t realize putting forth their HIDE THE DECLINE journalism is like shooting themselves in the foot.
A little birdie told me they are putting their money into anything and everything EXCEPT newspapers. Staffing firms, health care, energy companies, etc. etc.
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