Washington Post Loses $19.5 Million In First Quarter

 

WASHINGTON, DC (May 1, 2009) – While the Washington Post Co. reported a 2009 first quarter loss of $19.5 million, the newspaper division reported an operating loss of $53.8 million and the company's online division reported a revenue loss of 8 percent, the first such loss for the online group in recent times.

The company said their losses for the quarter, the second quarter of loss within a year, was caused by revenue decreases in the newspaper and magazine divisions and expenses in their education division.

Against first quarter revenue of $1.05 billion, the Washington Post Co. reported a net loss of $19.5 million. In 2008, the company had a net income of $39.3 million on $1.06 billion for the first quarter.

The first time the company showed a loss for a quarter was in 2008's second quarter because of retirements and buyouts offered to employees in the newspaper division, the Post said today.

But this time the losses are blamed on a "steep fall-off" in advertising and their first decline in online advertising revenue. The Post says their print advertising is down a stunning 33 percent.

The company used first quarter advertising figures from USA Today and The New York Times to compare their losses, saying that advertising was down 28 percent in the Times and 34 percent at USA Today. But the Post is encouraged by the fact that their daily circulation rose a bit for the first quarter despite their single-copy price increase to .75 cents (while acknowledging that presidential inauguration coverage boosted single copy sales in January).

 

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