Who says newspapers are dying?
The New York Times Co. said Thursday its second-quarter profit climbed nearly 85 percent, bucking predictions of another loss even as its ad revenue plunged. Its stock jumped in premarket trading.
The company offset its worsening decline in ad revenue with a 20 percent cut in operating costs, following a pattern that also emerged in recent earnings reports from fellow newspaper publishers Gannett Co. and McClatchy Co.
The publisher of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The International Herald-Tribune and 15 other daily newspapers said Thursday that it earned $39.1 million, or 27 cents per share, from April through June. That compares with a profit of $21.1 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Excluding one-time items, the company said it would have earned 8 cents per share. On that basis, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 4 cents per share.
Times Co. revenue fell 21 percent to $584 million. Analysts were expecting $603 million.
Advertising revenue plunged 30 percent from the second quarter of 2008. The Times Co. had seen a 27 percent year-over-year decline in the first quarter.
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Times Co. shares were up 43 cents, more than 6 percent, at $7.05 in trading before the market opened
