The extensive layoffs of the last year at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other properties may have finally paid off for the paper’s parent company.After sustaining severe losses in 2008 and early 2009, Journal Communications Inc. announced Thursday that it made a profit in its fourth quarter and for the fiscal year ending Dec. 27 – even as revenues fell.
In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, JCI, the owner of the Journal Sentinel , WTMJ television, radio stations and other media properties, reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $7.1 million. Compare that with 2008’s fourth quarter, when the company had a net loss of $223 million.
For all of 2008, the company had a net loss of $224.4 million. By comparison, the 2009 net profit reported Thursday was $4.3 million.
The 2009 fourth-quarter operating profit, $15.4 million, was divided almost evenly between publishing ($7.8 million) and broadcasting ($8.1 million).
Revenues, however, were down, falling 16.4 percent for the fourth quarter to $112.2 million and falling 20.4 percent to $433.6 million for the full year. The company blamed sharp declines in print classified advertising for jobs – as companies froze hiring in the recession – as well as homes and cars. Retail advertising fell as well. On the broadcast side, local advertising decreased, and political advertising plunged – it was an off year for elections.
In a news release, JCI chairman Steve Smith expressed optimism that Olympic Games advertising and 2010 political advertising would help lift the company’s revenues.
The company’s latest financial report comes at the end of a year in which the Journal Sentinel and other JCI operations went through a series of staff cuts. By this past fall, the JS newsroom staff was half the size it was in 1995, when the Journal and Sentinel merged to create the new paper. Employees also agreed to cut their pay by 6.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the Journal Sentinel is reportedly about to launch a new advertising campaign to promote the newspaper.
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