Washington Post Swings to 1Q Profit as Newspaper Division Loses $13.8 Million
The Washington Post Co. (WPO), which publishes its namesake daily and also Newsweek (though perhaps not for long), today announced it had swung to a first-quarter profit of $45.4 million, vs. a loss of $19.2 million in the first quarter of 2009.
Results for the company’s magazine and newspaper businesses were lackluster. A revenue increase of 11% for the company as a whole largely came from its Kaplan test-prep services and its television businesses, not publishing. In fact, the revenue gains were “offset by revenue declines at the magazine publishing and newspaper publishing divisions,” The Washington Post Co. said.
The company’s newspaper division took an operating loss of $13.8 million, a narrower loss than the $53.8 million recorded in the year-ago quarter.
Newspaper revenue fell 3% year over year to $155.8 million. Print ad revenue at the Post declined 8% to $68.7 million, as online classified revenue fell 13%. Online revenue (which includes Slate), meanwhile, climbed 8% to $23.7 million. Display ad revenue jumped 17%.
Daily circulation for The Washington Post fell 13% year over year for the first quarter to an average of 562,000, while Sunday circulation fell 10% to 780,000. The company said some of the decline was because people bought more papers in the first quarter of 2009, thanks to the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
The company incurred some charges in the quarter — $13.4 million in accelerated depreciation at The Washington Post; a $16.9 million restructuring charge at its Kaplan test-prep business; and $6.6 million in early retirement program expense at Newsweek, which it put up for sale this week.
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