GCI revenues for the period ended May 4, 2008 declined 7.7 % compared with the same period in 2007. Revenue in the big publishing division fell almost 11%. Real estate classifieds fell almost 24% as home sales in most regions fell apart.
According to Gannett "At USA TODAY, advertising revenues were down 6.4%." As odd as it may seem, falling revenue is not the industry's single biggest problem because most companies like Gannett still have good profits. However, falling operating cash flow is killing companies that took on debt over the last decade to buy other newspapers in the hope of building scale and cutting costs. McClatchy has over $2.4 billion in debt after buying rival Knight-Ridder.
Banks may end up owning some of the newspaper chains.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Serious Money: Three stocks that beat the market
Closing Bell: The wishy-washy return to Q3 (AA, DDUP, EMC, DNDN, CVX, FSLR, GS)
Oil, the stock market and economic inconsistency
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-20-2008 @ 2:47AM
The Big Dog said...
This may seem a trifle to a lot of people, but to those of us in the floral Industry (I am a 43 year veteran) this is a BIG deal. None of us will advertise in the newspaper, (ANY NEWSPAPER)because they regularly print the dreaded "in lieu of flowers" in their obituaries every single day. Started bacause the funeral industry is too lazy and cheap to handle the flowers sent to funeral homes on a daily basis, the newspapers willingly print these words all day every day in their editions. This costs the florist retailers millions in sales every year. And, look at it this way,....Where else in the newpaper does it say NOT to buy anything!Thank you funeral directors and Gannett, and forget my ad money!!!!!!!