Posted on 03/01/2006 2:37:14 PM PST by VA Voter
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Washington Post Co.'s fourth-quarter profit declined on charges and lost revenue from Katrina and other hurricanes, the newspaper publisher and broadcaster said Wednesday.
The company (WPO) reported net income of $102.4 million, or $10.65 a share, compared with a profit of $105.9 million, or $11.03 a share, earned in the year-earlier quarter.
Washington Post estimates that the hurricanes affected operating income to the tune of $4.7 million, or 49 cents a share after taxes. "Most of the impact was at the cable division, but the television broadcasting and educations division were also adversely impacted," the company said.
Quarterly revenue rose 5% to $948.7 million, led by improvement at the company's Kaplan-test preparation division.
Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had been expecting revenue of $946.6 million.
Kaplan revenue climbed 24% to $378.4 million, boosted by the 2005 acquisitions of Israeli test-preparation services provider Kidum Group; Bisys Education Services, a provider of licensing education for financial-services firms; and Asia Pacific Management Institute, which provides private education to undergraduate and postgraduate students in Asia.
Excluding the acquired businesses, Kaplan's revenue rose 14% over the prior year.
Meanwhile, newspaper publishing revenue fell 3% to $252.2 million amid ongoing unevenness in the advertising environment that's been felt across the industry.
At the flagship Washington Post, print advertising revenue fell 7% to $158.2 million, as retail and classified ads declined.
Revenue at the Post-Newsweek television stations declined 13% to $90.1 million, as they could not compare with a year-earlier quarter that included $17.5 million in political advertising.
Magazine publishing revenue fell 6% to $99 million, as Newsweek suffered from weak ad sales both domestically and internationally.
At Washington Post's cable-television systems, revenue rose 2% to $129 million. The company lost 21,400 basic subscribers and 7,700 digital subscribers as a result of Katrina but saw overall customer units rise to 1.14 million at the end of 2005 from 1.1 million at the end of 2004, primarily due to growth in broadband subscribers.
Washington Post shares moved up $4.30 to $756.50 at the close.
Is the WP located in NO????
The hurricanes get blamed for everything that isn't Bush's fault.
Good!
Gee...that's too bad.
...plus the fact that I don't have a billion Dollars.
Is this their way of saying that their horrible reporting during Hurricane Katrina affected their earnings?
B.S., the W.P. lost revenue due to lost circulation and lost credibility.
They used to be one of the premier newspapers in the land and now I wouldn't use it for fishwrap. And they keep getting worse.
If they were to go under I'd applaude. And the garbbage reporters can get food stamps, screw em.
The article goes on to explain that the Katrina-related losses are from a cable TV division. Presumably it operated in the affected areas.
DINOSAUR MEDIA EXTINCTION ALERT!!!!
Of course the hurricanes are Bush's fault.
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