The Washington Post (WPO) turned in earnings that showed just how important it is that the company owns the Kaplan education business.

That results at Kaplan helped offset a 33% advertising revenue decline at the company’s flagship paper. Overall revenue at the newspaper group fell 22% to $161 million. Online revenue dropped 8% to $22 million. The newspaper division reported an operating loss of $53.8 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to operating income of $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Newsweek also struggled. Revenue for the magazine publishing division totaled $46.1 million for the first quarter of 2009, a 14% decrease. The division had an operating loss of $20.3 million.

At Kaplan, revenue totaled $593.5 million for the first quarter of 2009, a 9% increase. Kaplan reported first quarter 2009 operating income of $11.2 million.

Total revenue for WPO for the first quarter was $1.05 billion, flat from last year. The company’s net loss was $19 million compared with a profit of $39 million in the same period a year ago.

Douglas A. McIntyre