New York Times Struggles with Sliding Ad Dollars

Sliding ad revenues and costs from shutting down some operations in Paris led to a second-quarter loss at The New York Times Co.

Print ad revenues have been in decline for a long time as readers migrate online, and dropped 14.1 percent during the second quarter, to $86 million. Digital ad revenue, typically a growth area, also declined, however, dropping 6.8 percent to $45 million. The company said some types of digital ads grew, like those for readers on cellphones and video ads, but not enough to counter declines in traditional online advertising.

In a statement, New York Times CEO Mark Thompson said he expects digital ad declines to improve in the second half of the year.

The company has focused on growing the number of people who pay to read its paper online, and sales from subscribers to the digital version of the paper rose 14 percent, to $54.1 million. The company now has 1.4 million digital-only subscribers.

Overall, the New York-based company reported a second-quarter loss of $211,000, or less than 1 cent per share, compared with profit of $16.4 million, or 10 cents per share, the year before. The company had severance costs from shutting down some of its Paris operations and a pension-related charge that also dragged on results. Revenue fell 2.7 percent to $372.6 million.

Shares fell 19 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $12.60 in midday trading. The stock had fallen roughly 5 percent since the beginning of the year.