Not a living soul expected The New York Times Company (NYT) to turn in good July results for its core newspaper group. The conventional wisdom was right about that. But, internet revenue for the newspapers was abysmal. The firm does not have anything else to rely on for growth

For July, revenues from continuing operations decreased 10.1% compared with the same month a year ago. Advertising revenues decreased 16.2% and circulation revenues decreased 0.5%. NYT only brought in $235 million in total revenue for the month.

At this point, the firm’s newspaper are probably losing money. In the last quarter, the newspaper division had a 6% margin on $713 million. NYT says that over 10% of that revenue comes from the internet. Back that out and operating income is negative.

Total internet revenues grew 2.6% for July and nternet advertising revenues increased 5.5%. Internet businesses include NYTimes.com, About.com, Boston.com and other Company Web sites. But, About.com had a revenue increase of 14.6% so revenue from the newspaper websites was close to flat compared to last year.

Once internet revenue is backed out, the New York Times newspaper group loses money now, and the flagship paper is not an exception

Douglas A. McIntyre

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