On Friday, the Washington Post Company made its earnings announcement for the second quarter of 2004. According to the Associated Press article, the publisher stated profits of $84.9 million, a 40% increase over the $60.6 million gain for the same period in 2003. However, newspaper advertising revenue represented only a 5% increase in revenues while the Kaplan education division represented $29.4 million, more than one-third, of the profits by the company.
If the recent bunch of media company results are any indication, then there is definitely no “trend” that can be followed across the board when assessing their economic value going forward. Some publishers/publications are doing very well when it comes to advertising, some are continuing to have difficulties.
