Two other major newspaper publishers reported third-quarter financial results today: New York Times Co. and McClatchy Co. Investors warmed more to NYT Co.'s results, but panned McClatchy's. Gannett disclosed its quarterly results last week; investors, too, gave them a thumbs down.
Based on recent trading today, performance of the three companies' shares over the past year, with the S&P 500 index for comparison:
Related: GCI's financial statement; MNI's statement, and the NYT's
[Data: Google Finance]
If you want to be arbitrary, go back 2 years.
ReplyDeleteAny yardstick can be considered arbitrary.
ReplyDeleteThat said, as with virtually every other publicly traded company, Gannett compares its quarterly results to those a year before -- not two years ago, or 10 years ago. If nothing else, I'm being consistent with that system of measurement.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteNothing arbitrary at all about your comparison. I do think, though, that GCI is more sensibly compared to LEE and MNI than NYT, which is sort of a special animal. GCI is sort of a bellwether in that it serves as a proxy for the nation's community newspapers. GCI goes down, LEE and MNI often go down in sympathy.
Good point. Remember, though, that NYT Co. publishes more than a dozen small community dailies in the U.S., in addition to the Times and the Boston Globe.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter what newspaper organization you look at: they all are in misery. What bothers me is the industry's across-the-board inertia in the face of declining advertising and increasing concentration of readership among an older demographic. This recession began in June 2007, and there has been no new idea that has emerged that promises to save newspapers. I find that sad, but a fact that we need to recognize.
ReplyDelete