The US second-largest newspaper publisher Knight Ridder has announced that the deterioration of advertising revenues in March will knock back its first quarter earnings by around 25%, when compared to the previous year.
The company – which publishes 32 daily titles including the
Miami Herald and
Philadelphia Inquirer – said that earnings would be 15-20 cents lower than expectations, following poor revenues in the classifieds and employment advertising sectors. Classified was down by 8% in the month to 4 March, whilst general ad revenue fell by 2.3%. This led to an overall revenue decline of 2.7% at Knight Ridder.
“The revenue environment continues to deteriorate, and we do not see relief in March. Accordingly, we are talking exceptional measures to tighten costs…,” said chief executive Tony Ridder. This warning follows an earlier downgrade by the company less than a month ago.
Knight Ridder is not the first newspaper publisher to be hit be a slowing advertising market in the US. Recently, both the New York Times (see International News) and Dow Jones have issued profits warnings (see International News).
