"...the Big Apple's liberal slime rag is feeling the heat from years of sputtering Clintwit-kissing BS......
New York Times to lay off 4pc of work force
21 September 2005
NEW YORK: New York Times Co yesterday said it would cut about 4 per cent of its work force, or 500 jobs, and warned that weaker newspaper advertising [..it's harder to pedal BS these days..] and rising costs could reduce earnings to less than half of Wall Street forecasts this quarter.
Shares in the New York Times fell almost 2 per cent in after-hours trade as the company made its second job cut announcement since May, when it planned to eliminate 190 positions.
The publisher of the New York Times, Boston Globe and International Herald Tribune warned that third-quarter earnings per share would be in a range of US11 cents (NZ16c) to US14c (NZ20c) compared with US33 cents a year earlier. The forecast includes expenses of US4 cents to US6 cents per share for its previous job cut programme.
The newspaper industry has been struggling with a lacklustre ad market, increased newsprint costs and circulation declines as readers turn more often to the Internet for information.
"This is in response to fairly weak advertising performance," said newspaper analyst John Morton, citing a 1.6 per cent rise in New York Times newspaper group ad revenue for the first seven months of 2005. "Consumers are just not stepping up to spend money the way they usually do," spurring advertisers to hold back, he said.
The company will cut about 500 jobs over six to nine months beginning in October, including 250 positions at the New York Times Media Group and about 160 at its New England Media Group.
The reductions would include about 80 newsroom positions in total – 45 at the Times and 35 at the Globe.
New York Times Co Chief Executive Janet Robinson said the company would "aggressively reduce costs" across its businesses and grow its Internet operations to offset the weak ad market.
"In September, our largest month in the quarter, advertising has been challenging and visibility remains limited," she said.
"We continue to benefit from very strong double-digit advertising growth at our digital operations, particularly About.com," Robinson said. "But elsewhere, advertising is weaker than expected."
In August, About.com helped push total New York Times Co advertising revenue up 1.7 per cent. But excluding the online information site, company ad revenue fell 1 per cent.
The New York Times said it was too early to assess the cost of the latest job cuts. The company lowered the range of its 2005 revenue projections, expecting ad revenue growth to be in the low-single digits from a previous forecast of low to mid-single digits.
New York Times shares fell to $US31.51 on Inet from their close of $US32.13 earlier today.
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