The Washington Post Company, the publisher of famed brands like
The Washington Post and the
Newsweek, has swung into first quarter loss of USD 19.5 million, mainly hit by plunging advertisement revenues.
The company has posted a loss of USD 19.5 million for the three months ended March 29, 2009 whereas the entity had a profit of USD 39.3 million in the year-ago period.
In a statement today, the firm said its first quarter revenues stood at USD 1.05 billion, a fall of one per cent as compared to the corresponding period a year ago.
It had revenues to the tune of USD 1.06 billion in the comparable period.
"The decrease is due to revenue declines at the newspaper publishing, television broadcasting and magazine publishing divisions, offset by revenue growth at the education and cable television divisions," the statement noted.
According to the company, newspaper publishing division revenue dropped 22 per cent to USD 160.9 million in the latest quarter.
"Print advertising revenue at
The Post decreased 33 per cent to USD 74.3 million, from USD 111.6 million in 2008. The decline is due to large decreases in classified, preprint, retail and zones advertising," it said.
Further, revenues from the firm's newspaper online publishing activities, primarily 'washingtonpost.com', decreased eight per cent to USD 22 million for the first quarter of this year.
In the magazine publishing division, first quarter revenues tumbled 14 per cent to USD 46.1 million. "The decline is due to a 23 per cent reduction in advertising revenue at Newsweek due primarily to fewer ad pages at the domestic and international editions," the company said.
Earlier in March, a Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program was offered to certain employees of
The Washington Post newspaper.
The statement noted that the early retirement program would be substantially completed in the second quarter of 2009.
