Washington Post profits plummet

The Washington Post Co. has reported a steep fall in quarterly net profits, the latest dose of bad news for the US newspaper industry that already saw a week of sweeping job losses. The Washington Post said on Friday net profits fell by nearly 86 percent to 10.3 million dollars in the third-quarter of the year, down from 72.5 million dollars in the same period last year. Net profits for the first nine months of 2008 were 46.9 million dollars compared with 205.7 million dollars for the same period of 2007, the Post said in a statement. It also said revenue rose 10 percent to 1.13 billion dollars during the quarter, from 1.02 billion dollars during the same period last year. Most of the revenue growth came from the Post's education, cable television and magazine publishing divisions, the Post said, along with a small increase at its television broadcasting division. Besides the flagship Washington Post, the Post Co. also owns Newsweek magazine, Kaplan educational services and television interests. Much of the drop in net profits was because of a writedown in the value of several of the Post's newspapers assets. But the company also reported falls in circulation and print advertising revenue at its flagship paper during the quarter. Online publishing revenue grew by 13 percent during the third quarter but newspaper publishing division revenue, which accounts for a far larger amount of total revenue, fell seven percent to 196.2 million dollars, the Post said. It said Post daily and Sunday circulation declined 2.4 percent and 3.6 percent respectively during the first nine months of 2008, compared with the same period in 2007. The weaker earnings at the Post capped a week during which Time Inc. announced it was laying off 300 and 700 employees and Gannett Co. Inc., the largest US newspaper chain, slashed 10 percent of its workforce. The Los Angeles Times also cut 75 editorial jobs this week. Print advertising revenue has been declining at newspapers and magazines across the country as circulation drops and more readers go online for their news. Many advertisers have been shifting their dollars to the Internet, but gains in online advertising revenue have failed to keep pace with losses on the print side.