Profit slump at the New York Times
The New York Times Company, the publishing group behind The New York Times, saw its revenue fall by 11 percent and posted a loss of $58 million for the full year 2008. With a credit line totaling $800 million set to mature by 2011, the company is now under severe pressure.
The US publishing group around the renowned New York Times is feeling the effects of the economic crisis ever more acutely. Due to collapsing advertising revenues, the surplus halved to just under 28 million dollars in the final quarter of 2008. Turnover also fell by eleven percent to 772 million dollars in the last quarter, as the New York Times Company announced on Wednesday. In 2008, the group suffered a loss totaling 58 million dollars due to high write-downs. Turnover for the year as a whole fell by eight percent to 2.9 billion dollars. As recently as 2007, the Group had posted a profit of 230 million dollars.
The traditional group, which also owns the Boston Globe newspaper, needs fresh money because a credit line of 400 million dollars expires in May and a further credit line of the same amount is due in 2011. In view of these problems, the company wants to sell its stake in the sports holding company New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball club, among others. In addition, the sale of the shares in the recently built publishing building in the heart of New York would bring in 225 million dollars. The Times Group owns 58 percent of the 52-storey skyscraper designed by star architect Renzo Piano.
The publishing house recently received a financial injection of 250 million dollars from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. This will enable the 68-year-old businessman to significantly increase his stake in the newspaper company from just under seven percent in the medium term.
The traditional group, which also owns the Boston Globe newspaper, needs fresh money because a credit line of 400 million dollars expires in May and a further credit line of the same amount is due in 2011. In view of these problems, the company wants to sell its stake in the sports holding company New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball club, among others. In addition, the sale of the shares in the recently built publishing building in the heart of New York would bring in 225 million dollars. The Times Group owns 58 percent of the 52-storey skyscraper designed by star architect Renzo Piano.
The publishing house recently received a financial injection of 250 million dollars from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. This will enable the 68-year-old businessman to significantly increase his stake in the newspaper company from just under seven percent in the medium term.
