Washington Post Co. reports 1st-quarter profit; education, cable TV revenue grow

Washington Post Co. has profit, slowing ad decline

NEW YORK — The Washington Post Co. returned to a profit in the first quarter as declines in print advertising slowed and the company’s cable TV and education businesses continued to grow.

The Post Co. had net income of $45.4 million, or $4.91 per share, in the first three months of the year. That reversed a loss in the same period last year of $19.2 million, or $2.04 per share, brought on by big one-time expenses.

Revenue grew 11 percent to $1.17 billion.

With its namesake newspaper struggling, the Post Co. has been relying on its TV and Kaplan education businesses for growth. Now it plans to reduce its traditional role as a publisher even further. It announced Wednesday that Newsweek magazine, which it has owned since 1961, is up for sale.

The Washington Post Co. has pared its magazine losses sharply with deep cost-cutting and by selling Budget Travel. The company’s magazine group, which now just has Newsweek, lost $2 million in the latest quarter after losing more than $20 million a year ago. But the company has said it doesn’t see a way to make Newsweek profitable.

The Kaplan division is the Post Co.’s strongest. It brings in more revenue than the rest of the company’s businesses combined. Its revenue rose 20 percent to $711.4 million in the most recent quarter, with an operating profit of $57.9 million.

The company’s cable TV unit grew revenue a modest 3 percent.

Advertising revenue at the Washington Post newspaper slid 8 percent to $68.7 million, but that was a little better than the 9 percent decline in the fourth quarter of last year.

The advertising improvement is a trend that has been playing out across the media industry, as businesses emerging from the recession have started to spend more money marketing their products. Newspapers also are now comparing their results to extremely weak year-ago numbers.

Post Co. shares fell $11.98, 2.45 percent, to close at $476.52.