E&P has stories on fourth-quarter earnings reports of two newspaper companies. Regarding the Washington Post Co.
The Washington Post Co. Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $82.2 million, or $8.71 a share, a big jump from its year-ago net income of $18.8 million, or $2.01 a share. The Post Co.’s Kaplan education and cable television businesses accounted for the lion’s share of the profit, but the newspaper division was profitable on a moderating decline in advertising revenue.
A similar story about the Dallas Morning News.
And the newspaper publisher said its fourth-quarter advertising revenue decline of 23.5% was the smallest year-over-year decline of 2009.
With continued deep cost-cutting of 33.5% in expenses during the quarter, A.H. Belo swung to a profit of $5.6 million, or $0.27 per share.