Print Advertising At The Washington Post Down 33%, Kaplan Sales Bolster Top Line

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