Diversified media giant New York Times Co. (NYT), reported Thursday a decrease in profit for the second quarter, hurt mainly by the absence of prior year's tax benefit, notwithstanding higher revenues. Quarterly earnings, as well as revenues breezed past Street expectations.
Second-quarter net income attributable to the common stockholders declined to $32.03 million or $0.21 per share from $39.06 million or $0.27 per share a year ago. Results for the quarter included a tax expense of $25.44 million, compared to a tax gain of $38.20 million in the prior-year quarter.
Net income from continuing operations attributable to common stockholders was $31.80 million or $0.21 per share, compared to $39.15 million or $0.27 per share last year. This includes a gain of $9.1 million from the sale of 50 of the Company's 750 units in New England Sports Ventures, LLC (NESV).
Excluding items, earnings from continuing operations surged to $0.18 per share from $0.08 per share in the year-ago quarter.
The New York-based company's total revenues for the quarter grew 1.2% to $589.59 million from $582.69 million in the comparable quarter last year.
Advertising revenues edged down to $314.88 million from $315.54 million a year ago, primarily due to a 6.1% decrease in print advertising revenues. Circulation revenues grew 3.2% to $234.81 million from $227.48 million in the prior-year quarter, driven mainly by higher subscription and newsstand prices at The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Other revenues edged up to $39.90 million from $39.67 million in the prior year.
Segment-wise News Media Group revenues grew 1% to $555.90 million from $555.55 million last year, while About Group revenues rose 24.1 % to $33.69 million from 27.15 million in the year-ago quarter, driven mainly by growth in display and cost-per-click advertising.
Total operating expenses for the quarter declined 4.3% to $528.76 million from $552.37 million in the previous-year quarter.
Operating profit for the quarter under review surged to $60.83 million from $23.48 million in the previous year.
For the six-month period, net income attributable to common shareholders was $44.83 million or $0.29 per share compared to a loss of $35.40 million or $0.25 per share in the same period last year. Revenue for the period declined to $1.18 billion from $1.19 billion in the year-ago period.
Chief Executive Officer, Janet Robinson said, "These positive results continued to build on the momentum of the past few quarters as the company was able to increase revenues and decrease operating costs."
Looking ahead, New York Times expects revenue trends for print advertising to improve from the levels of the second quarter, basing its optimism on the early part of the third quarter. Digital advertising is expected to trend in the mid to high teens. The company also sees 3% to 5% declines in circulation revenues in the third quarter.
Further, the company expects higher newsprint prices to negatively affect operating expenses by approximately $25 million for the second half of 2010.
The company also expects to record a charge of approximately $16 million, for the write-down of assets at The Boston Globe's printing facility in Billerica, Massachusetts, in the third quarter.
NYT is currently trading at $9.19, up $0.14 or 1.55%, on a volume of 1.73 million shares on the NYSE. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $6.26 to $14.87.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.