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U.S. Newspaper Profits Stun Wall St
All major U.S. newspaper publishers, except one, have reported stronger earnings for the second quarter, confounding financial experts who predicted ``daily rags'' wouldn't even survive the challenge of radio and television, let alone the ubiquitous Internet.
The view on the street on Monday was that USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and scores of newspapers in small-town America are doing very well, thank you. Revenue from advertising is more than making up for a slow decline in circulation and a rise in newsprint prices that has eaten into profits.
Second-quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates, with advertising revenues continuing to fuel growth as the company expands onto the Internet. Excluding special one-time items, earnings rose to $1.02 per share from 83 cents in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 95 cents per share.
John Sturm, president and chief executive officer of the Newspaper Association of America, which represents some 2000 newspapers in North America, said: ``The overall message is that business is really good ... and the attitude out there is that this will be another good year.
``The Internet has not been much of an issue to date,'' he said, adding that most top U.S. dailies now have their own news sites, which attract a loyal readership because of the newspaper's standing in their local community.
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