The financial story at The New York Times Company is not a pretty one.
The newspaper giant missed analyst projections Thursday during its third-quarter earnings announcement, as profits slid 85 percent to $2.28 million or two cents a share. Wall Street had predicted the company would post profits of $0.08 per share for the quarter.
Adjusting for severance payouts, those earnings moved from the black into the red, with the company posting quarterly losses of 1 cent per share.
Revenue also missed the mark, sinking 0.6 percent to $449 million $451.6 million a year ago. Analysts had projected sales of $479.23 million for the quarter.
The company's stock sank 10 percent to $9.60 in early trading Thursday.
“While our results for the third quarter reflect continued pressure on advertising revenues, total circulation revenues rose led by the ongoing expansion of our digital subscription base,” Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, The New York Times Company, said in a statement.
Indeed, the big bright slot for the company is that its push to charge for digital access to its coverage continues to bear fruit. Digital subscriptions across the company totaled 592,000, up 11 percent from the end of the second quarter.
