New York Times Swings to Loss in the Quarter
29 July 2016 - 3:20AM
Dow Jones News
New York Times Co. swung to a second-quarter loss because of
costs to streamline its international operations and declines in
print and digital advertising.
While digital subscriber growth remained robust, rising 22% from
a year earlier, Chief Executive Mark Thompson said that
"advertising was tougher in the quarter, particularly on the print
side."
Advertising revenue fell 12% in the second quarter, offsetting
an increase of 3% in its circulation revenue.
Digital advertising fell 6.8%, declining for a second
consecutive quarter, as weaker display advertising sales offset
growth in branded content, mobile and programmatic advertising.
Print advertising fell 14%.
"We expect a marked improvement in digital advertising in the
third quarter," Mr. Thompson said on a call with analysts. "But we
do not expect print advertising headwinds to alleviate."
New York Times shares were down 1.5% to $12.60 in midday
trading.
Mr. Thompson said the company expects digital advertising to
post double-digit percentage growth in the second half of the year,
compared with a year earlier, noting there has been a turnaround
already this month.
In April, the paper announced that it would cut 70 jobs and move
some editing and production operations from Paris to New York and
Hong Kong as part of a restructuring of its international print
edition operations. More than 50 union-covered employees in the
U.S. took part in a voluntary buyout round that closed earlier this
month, according to the News Guild of New York. The company hasn't
disclosed the number of management employees who applied.
Mr. Thompson said the paper would continue to take steps "to
keep our cost base in line."
The Times added 51,000 net digital-only subscriptions in the
quarter for a total of 1.212 million online readers, Mr. Thompson
said. The publisher also added 16,000 new subscribers to its
separate crossword puzzle offering for a total of 212,000.
Overall, the Times reported a loss of $211,000, compared with a
year-earlier profit of $16.4 million. On a per-share basis, the
company posted break-even results, compared with year-earlier
earnings of 10 cents. Excluding restructuring charges related to
the streamlining of its international operations and other items,
adjusted per-share earnings from continuing operations fell to 11
cents from 13 cents. Revenue decreased 2.7% to $372.6 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected adjusted earnings of
11 cents a share and revenue of $375 million.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 28, 2016 13:05 ET (17:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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