Emac's Stock Watch | Fox Business
  • July 23, 2008 10:38 AM EDT by Elizabeth MacDonald

    Profit Plunge at the New York Times

    The New York Times (NYT) fell as low as $12.38 this morning after its second quarter earnings missed estimates. Profits plunged 82% to $21 mn versus the $118 mn posted in the same period a year ago, a period that was helped along by the one-time sale of an asset.

    The share plunge is the lowest since July 1995. An historic come-down for the newspaper of record, given that in 2003, the stock traded at $45, notes Frazer Rice, a private banker in New York.

    Print ads dollars at the Times continue to shrivel, sending operating income in a nosedive, as ad dollars continued their inexorable march toward the Internet. Hotels, automakers, airlines, all hurt by high energy prices, have pulled back sharply.

    What exactly is wrong with the Times' business model? "Rightly or wrongly, the New York Times has had to serve three functions," says Rice, a private banker in New York.  "One, inform the world; two, act as the moral barometer of the nation; three, turn a profit.  All three of which are vital legs in the New York Times’ stool.  The last one, turning a profit, is the one they are having, as the Irish would say, a spot of bother." So what's the problem? Although the Times has "many interesting properties like the Boston Globe and about.com," Rice says, it "has managed to be a follower in the information age as opposed to a driver."

    Specifically, the Times is "being taken over by Google as people’s news gathering tastes were dictated by the marketing information that search engines had as opposed and the costs of newsprint and bureau chiefs soared to through the roof," Rice explains. "The fact is that the Timesis the brand leader in a product that is becoming more and more commoditized and whose brand is being co-opted by its individual journalists," adding, how many people do you know who buy the Times solely to read "Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman or Paul Krugman?" 

    The Times is hoping against hope that its mix of assets, including The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune, About.com, regional newspapers and a classical music radio station in New York can pull it out of its corkscrew dive south.

    How to fix it? "Perhaps a relationship with Google or another search engine makes sense," Rice says. "The Times has failed to make any headway in the digital age, why not seek out the advice of the people who are making a killing in it?"  Stay tuned.

Indy

Lots of angry people in here...

July 23, 2008 at 5:11 pm

David Baker

Better hurry and get this nation socialized where the state will pay the price of the liars to publish the states views. Here comes Nobama, maybe Billary will take over the American version of Pravda.

July 23, 2008 at 5:12 pm

FollowFacts

Perhaps they are being abandoned by people who suffer from an anti-bias bias. It is a syndrome that is caught from watching network news. The syndrome is characterized by aversion to spin, bias, propaganda and outright falsehoods, whether by commission or omission of pertinent information. A common presentation of this syndrome is puking after reading the paper. People who have this syndrome can get relief by using the rag to wrap garbage. As the geeks say: garbage in, garbage out. The cure is not to by the New York Times.

July 23, 2008 at 5:16 pm

FollowFacts

The other lesson is not to rely on spell checkers. The word is buy, not by. Sorry.

July 23, 2008 at 5:17 pm

Ed

Don't just think of cancelling if you subscribe to the NYT rag, CANCEL!

July 23, 2008 at 5:27 pm

John Wetteland

I disagree with the bussiness model, I believe the Times needs to inform the world and needs to to turn a profit but why should a news outlet be required to act as the "Moral Barometer of the Nation". This is the problem with the Times, do not try to tell me what to think. Inform me (even occationally give me your opinion) but allow me to make my own conclutions

July 23, 2008 at 5:43 pm

Lori

For certain the Times management needs to be fired and replaced, but if they hire the same types with the same agenda, they will certainly get the same results. This is probably the last chance for the owners to save it. Which is more important to them, profit and respectable journalism, or ideological propaganda? Their actions in the near future will reveal the answer to that question and seal their fate probably for the last time. Partnering with successful companies may keep them operating a while longer, but it will not save the name or reputation of the Times. People have a choice, and an institution can be ruined by foolish people who fail to realize they exist for one reason only: to report the news. Not tell people what to think or who to vote for. Newspapers are not blogs. It's about time they started acting with the professionalism their status and the public demands.

July 23, 2008 at 5:45 pm

robert

Yeah, F the NYT. They deserve to perish in the flames of capitalism. Carla...I'd definitely cancel. I canceled my subscription to the San Jose Mercury and they aren't nearly as bad. Hopefully, the SF Chronical will be next. All those op-ed writers can kiss my right wing arse.

July 23, 2008 at 5:46 pm

BigDogg

Now maybe that west coast liberal biased rag...the L.A. Times should take heed.

July 23, 2008 at 5:54 pm

jeffrey

So when will the Democrats put forth a bailout program to save the paper with taxpayer dollars? This paper is simply a Liberal newsletter. God forbid they, or any newspaper, would actually distance themselves from the politicians they cover and actually report the facts of what these politicians are really doing, they might be relevant again. They need to quit reporting on what someone says or intends, and report on actions and results. But that will never happen and they will simply go away. When a paper makes the National Enquirier look like a pillar of journalistic integrity, their days are numbered. I'm not looking for fair and balanced here, just the facts. I'll figure things out from there.

July 23, 2008 at 6:08 pm

marvin steele

if the nyt ran their paper like foxnews, fair and balance, more people might go back and read it. like cnn,,, clinton news network,,, most americans want both sides of the story not what the dnc or move on.org wants us to beleive. what was once a great paper is now at the bottom of the bird cage.

July 23, 2008 at 6:17 pm

Dick

If the Times was less concerned about being "the moral barometer of the nation" and focused more on objective news coverage, it wouldn't be having so many problems. The haughty attitude of knowing more than your readers and having the moral responsibility of having to save them from themselves does not make an endearing statement to many. The Times fully has the ability of being a world leading source of news, but until they take the blinders off and tell like it is, not how they would like it to be, they will continue in a downward spiral. The "barometer" needs to go back to the shop.

July 23, 2008 at 6:27 pm

DON NEVINS

Frazer Rice got it right only the obvious is standing in front of him and everybody else including the NY Times management but everybody appears to be blind. Inform the world - OF ALL THE FACTS NOT JUST THE ONES THE TIMES LIKES. Act as the moral barometer of the nation - IS NOT KNUCKLING UNDER TO RELATIVE MORALITY Turn a profit - HOW WHEN YOU MISSED ON THE TWO ABOVE??? They even overrule the readers' Ombudsman! I only read the comics in my local newspaper (and grab the grocery ads) in these days of biased reporting at least some of the local strips are humorous. What the Times prints or fails to print cannot even pass as a joke! Tucson Don - used to get the paper and read it!

July 23, 2008 at 6:31 pm

Obama's Intelligence? - Page 2

[...] Originally Posted by progunr ... I think it really upset him to know that much of the leftist media garbage that is trying to sell him to the American public, is NOT being viewed by the troops overseas. ... Did he say all those things? You have a source? We can take some comfort in the fact that leftwing media is getting hurt where it counts: the pocketbook. "Chief Executive Janet Robinson says business was hurt by the "U.S. economic slowdown and secular forces playing out across the media industry." The Associated Press: New York Times 2Q profit drops 82 percent and "The New York Times (NYT) fell as low as $12.38 this morning after its second quarter earnings missed estimates. Profits plunged 82% to $21 mn versus the $118 mn posted in the same period a year ago, a period that was helped along by the one-time sale of an asset. The share plunge is the lowest since July 1995. An historic come-down for the newspaper of record, given that in 2003, the stock traded at $45, notes Frazer Rice, a private banker in New York." Profit Plunge at the New York Times at Emac’s Stock Watch | Fox Business [...]

July 24, 2008 at 10:32 pm

about this blog

  • Elizabeth MacDonald is the stocks editor for Fox Business Network. She is recognized as one of the top prize-winning business journalists in the country, and has received 14 awards, including the top prize in business journalism, the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism, and the Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism.

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