The New York Times Company Reports 2020 Third-Quarter Results

 NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Charlotte Times 46 Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today third-quarter 2020 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $.20 compared with $.10 in the same period of 2019. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (defined below) was $.22 in the third quarter of 2020 compared with $.12 in the third quarter of 2019.

Operating profit increased to $39.6 million in the third quarter of 2020 from $25.1 million in the same period of 2019 and adjusted operating profit (defined below) increased to $56.5 million from $44.1 million in the prior year, as higher digital-only subscription revenues and lower costs more than offset lower advertising revenues.

The New York Charlotte Times 46 Company Said

Meredith Kopit Levien, president, and chief executive officer, The New York Charlotte Times 46 Company, said, “In this unprecedented moment in the country and the world, our strategy of making journalism worth paying for continues to prove itself out, and our newsroom’s extraordinary work across a range of subjects and formats continues to drive more people to engage with The Times, form a habit, pay and stay.

“For the second quarter running, total digital revenue exceeded print revenue. Press Release Distribution Services And for the first time, total digital-only subscription revenue exceeded print subscription revenue, making digital-only subscriptions not just the central engine of the Company’s growth, but on its way to being our largest revenue stream.

“We ended the quarter with approximately 6.9 million total subscriptions, and crossed the 7 million mark in the month of October, an increase of two million digital-only subscriptions over the last year and 393,000 over the last quarter. Press Release Template the news cycle certainly played a role, but as we are increasingly seeing with each passing quarter, so too did the breadth of our coverage and our improving ability to mean more to more people. The continued demand for quality, original, independent journalism across a range of topics makes us even more optimistic about the size of the total market for digital journalism subscriptions and our position in it.”

Press Release Comparisons

Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are for the third quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2019.

This release presents certain non-GAAP financial measures, including diluted earnings per share from Press Release Format continuing operations excluding severance, non-operating retirement costs and special items (or adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations); operating profit before depreciation, amortization, severance, multiemployer pension plan withdrawal costs and special items (or adjusted operating profit); and operating costs before depreciation, amortization, severance and multiemployer pension plan withdrawal costs (or adjusted operating costs). Refer to Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Information in the exhibits for a discussion of management’s reasons for the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

The Company changed the expense captions on its Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations effective for the first quarter of 2020. These changes were made in order to reflect how the Company manages its business and to communicate where the Company is investing resources and how this aligns with the Company’s strategy. The Company reclassified expenses for the prior period in order to present comparable financial results. Refer to Reconciliation of GAAP Information in the exhibits for more details.

Revenues

Total revenues for the third quarter of 2020 decreased by 0.4 percent to $426.9 million from $428.5 million in the Press Release Definition third quarter of 2019. Subscription revenues increased 12.6 percent to $301.0 million, advertising revenues decreased 30.2 percent to $79.3 million and other revenues decreased 2.0 percent to $46.7 million.

Subscription revenues in the third quarter of 2020 rose due to growth in the number of subscriptions to the Company’s digital-only products, which include our news product, as well as our Cooking, Games (previously Crossword), and audio products. Press Release Sample Revenue from digital-only products increased 34.0 percent, to $155.3 million. Print subscription revenues decreased 3.8 percent to $145.7 million largely due to lower retail newsstand revenue, while revenue from our domestic home delivery subscription products grew 2.5 percent.

The Company ended the third quarter of 2020 with approximately 6,894,000 subscriptions across its print and digital products. Paid digital-only subscriptions totaled approximately 6,063,000, a net increase of 393,000 subscriptions compared with Press Release Template Word the end of the second quarter of 2020 and a net increase of 2,010,000 subscriptions compared with the end of the third quarter of 2019. Of the 393,000 total net additions, 275,000 came from the Company’s digital news product, while 118,000 came from the Company’s Cooking, Games and audio products.

Third-quarter digital advertising revenue decreased 12.6 percent, while print advertising revenue decreased 46.5 percent. Digital advertising revenue was $47.8 million, or 60.3 percent of total Company advertising revenues, compared with $54.7 million, or 48.1 percent, in the third quarter of 2019. Digital advertising revenue decreased primarily as a result of lower creative services revenues. Print advertising revenue decreased as the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated secular trends, largely impacting the luxury, entertainment, media and home furnishings categories.

Other revenues decreased 2.0 percent in the third quarter primarily as a result of fewer television episodes as well as lower revenues from commercial printing and live events. These declines were partially offset by higher revenues from licensing revenue related to Facebook News and affiliate referrals from Wirecutter.

Source: https://investors.nytco.com/news-and-events/press-releases/#data-item=The-New-York-Times-Company-Reports-2020-Third-Quarter-Results