Advertising trends continue to improve in the fourth quarter, although Gannett is still not ready to predict when or if traditional print revenue will start growing again. The company announced that smaller print declines and cost cutting will help results in the last three months of 2010. As a result, the company announced its belief that its Q4 numbers will be closer to the high end of analyst estimates.
Gannett announced its fisacal results for the third quarter, posting a net income of $101.4 million, up from $73.8 million the year before. Total revenues for the quarter were $1.31 billion, flat as compared with the revenues in the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Gannett said in a regulatory filing Friday that it reached an agreement with lenders to extend its debt obligations and borrow up to another $750 million. Total commitments under the amended revolving credit agreements are now $1.63 billion through March 15, 2012, and $1.14 billion from March 15, 2012, to Sept. 30, 2014.
Gannet announced that it has successfully completed a private placement offering of USD250m aggregate principal amount of its 6.375% Senior Notes due 2015 and also of a USD250m aggregate principal amount of its 7.125% Senior Notes due 2018.
USA Today will undergo a reorganization that will refocus the newspaper on new distribution channels, de-emphasizing the print paper and focusing on different mediums such as the Web, mobile devices, and tablets. The newspaper also plans to increase collaboration between the news and business staff in an attempt to make it more attractive to marketers.
Gannett announced its fiscal results for Q2 2010, posting revenue of $1.37 billion, down 1.6% from the previous year's $1.39 billion. Its net income for the quarter came in at $195.5 million compared to $70.5 million in the prior-year quarter.
Many investors believe that publishing powerhouses like Gannett are facing a mortal decline, even as they bounced up from their lows. For example, The New York Times Company saw its sales shrink -3% in 2007, -8% in 2008, and -17% in 2009. Gannett has been caught in a similar revenue spiral. And while it is true that newspaper readership continues to decline, with the economy having bottomed, revenues are expected to stabilize this year and next, keeping the newspaper industry afloat.
Gannett announced its Q1 numbers, including revenues of $1.32 billion (down from $1.38 billion the year before) and a net income of $117.18 million (up from $77.44 the year before)
Gannett announced that nine of its broadcasting stations won 44 regional 2010 Edward R. Murrow awards. The competition is sponsored by the Radio Television Digital News Association and honors outstanding achievements in electronic journalism.
Gannett-owned USA Today has announced its plans to release an app for the iPad to be released in early April. The app will be free until July 4, after which it will be available for a fee-based subscription
Gannett and Oahu Publications (OPI) announced today they have reached an agreement for OPI to acquire The Honolulu Advertiser and related assets including website, non-daily publications and Gannett’s interest in Hawaii.com.
Despite the fact that its digital revenues continue to climb, not counting the declines at job site CareerBuilder, Gannett has requested to keep its digital revenue targets secret, a request that has been granted by the SEC.
USA Today's Best-Seller list is now adding sales figures from a number of online sources, including sales from Barnes & Noble online, Sony's Reader Store, and Kindle sales
Gannett announced a Q4 revenue of $1.49 billion, down from the $1.74 billion it posted in Q4 2008. Its operating income was $259.3 million, down from an operating income of -$5.2 billion in Q4 2008.
WikiLeaks.org, the nonprofit website that hosts leaked documents, closed down this month, despite the support of major news organizations such as Gannett and the Associated Press
In Gannett Foundation's second round of 2009 grants, distributed in December, the newspaper company donated $51,700 to 23 companies.
The Palladium-Item and Gannett Foundation distributed $5,000 in grants to three community organizations, representing the second and final round of GCI's community contributions for 2009, totaling $10,000.
Wells Fargo upgraded several newspaper stocks, including Gannett, citing a much faster-than-expected improvement in advertising sales.
Gannett gained the most in the S&P 500, surging 8.17% to $12.98, reinforcing expectations that it will beat out Q4 estimates due to a recovering advertising industry
Journal News, a GCI newspaper outside New York City announced its plans to cut 166 jobs by outsourcing printing and mailing operations. The company is also considering selling its Harrison headquarters and then relocating
USA Today announced an exclusive partnership with Fark.com, a news aggregator and edited social networking news site. USAToday.com's tech section will become the exclusive host and sponsor of the Geek page onFark.com
PointRoll, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett and the leading provider of rich media advertising, became one of the first beta testers in Microsoft’s Atlas Technology Partner Alliance (ATPA), which will allow advertisers and agencies to connect media management systems like PointRoll’s to their current Atlas Media Console reporting system
Gannett's Buzz Bureau is looking to provide valuable new options, including such services as content licensing, research and national distribution to advertisers, trying to do its part to help the advertising industry after its recent well-documented struggles
Wells Fargo analysts downgraded Gannett to "underperform" based on weak ad recovery and a decline in circulation
Gannett reports its Q3 earnings figures, announcing a 53% drop in net income (to $33.13 million) and an 18% drop in revenue (to $1.34 billion). A 28% decling in advertising revenue year-over-year is one of the main factors in these declines.
USA Today expects to report the largest decline in circulation in its 27-year history, threatening its No. 1 position among U.S. dailies as the growth of online news and the slump in travel pummel the newspaper
After three years of plunging revenues, it appears to have finally stopped, with Gannett's third-quarter earnings expected to be substantially above analysts' forecasts
Gannett closed at $9.81 in the week ending 9/20/09, good for a 17.3% increase. This rise boosted it to the top of the Asbury Park Press/Bloomberg 75 index, made up of companies based in or with a significant presence in the Jersey Shore, and helped the index as a whole rise 3.16% from the week before.
Gannett saw a surge in New York trading after a market-research report that some media may see improvement in third-quarter advertising
GCI's quarterly revenue was down 18% from Q2 2008 because of a 32% plunge in ad sales during the quarter. However, the company benefited from numerous cost cutting initiatives and earned 46 cents per share, as compared to estimates of 37 cents per share. This performance spurred a 20% jump in GCI's price.
GCI announced that it cut 125 jobs from several of its regional newspapers in efforts to shave expenses.
As of April 30, AXA Financial cut its holding to less than 1% ownership, down from 13.3% ownership last year.
GCI's Q1 2009 net income was 60% lower than that in Q1 2008, marking a 34% and 15.7% drop in ad revenue in its publishing and broadcasting segments, respectively. However, the lackluster performance still beat most analysts' expecations- as a result, shares rose about 2% following the press release.
GCI's stock price jumped 39% on Thursday following the release of news that fund manager Ariel Investments LLC more than doubled its investment in GCI last quarter.
GCI informed most of its employees that they will have to take another week of unpaid leave in the spring of 2009, the second time the company has enforced furloughs in 2009. The move comes as part of a cost reduction strategy in attempts to mitigate rising newsprint costs and declining advertising revenue. Earlier this year, GCI saved $20 million in operating expenses during its first furlough.
Standard & Poor lowered its corporate credit ratings on GCI from BBB- to BB, or junk status. S&P cited the expected decline in advetising spending in both GCI's newspaper publishing and broadcasting as a result of declining economic activity in the U.S. and U.K.
GCI followed suit with many other media companies, cutting its quarterly dividend by 90% to 4 cents per share in a move to strengthen its balance sheet. The cut will save the company $325 million per year.
The company's Q4 net income fell 36% to $158 million following a 22.7% drop in advertising revenue from its publishing businesses. Furthermore, its financial results are estimated to further worsen following the company's estimated $5.9 billion in pretax wrtie-downs for the falling value of its businesses.
GCI must find a buyer for certain assets of it's Tucson, Arizona publication "The Citizen" by March 21, or else will be forced to close the newspaper.
On February 1, 2008, Gannett reported that earnings fell 5.2%, from a year ago.The decline in revenue was due in large part to a decrease newspaper advertising revenue.
Q1 2007 earnings revealed that net income at Gannett fell to $210.6 million, or 90 cents a share, from $235.3 million, or 99 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell to $1.87 billion from $1.88 billion in the quarter a year ago. The company blamed a series of severe winter storms and a softening real estate market for the lower advertising revenue.
Gannett announced both circulation and ad revenue fell in February, and announced expected revenues for Q1 2007 to be lower than the average estimate of research analysts.
Shares of newspaper companies, including Gannett and several competitors, rise as multiple bidders appear for the troubled Tribune Company (TRB), fueling speculation of industry-wide consolidation that could lead to buyers paying above-market prices to purchase newspaper companies.
