Washington Post-Apocalypse: 1Q Net Income Plunges 85 Percent

(Photo credit: kieren mccarthy)

Congress isn't the only Washington, D.C. institution that hemorrhages money.

Slammed by the double whammy of newspaper readers and advertising revenue going out the door and a poor performance by online educator Kaplan, Inc., the Washington Post Co. Friday reported an 85 percent decrease in First Quarter earnings compared to a year ago, according to a Reuters report.

The Washington Post suffered a 4 percent drop in advertising revenue to $127.3 million and was saddled with a $34 million operating loss associated with severance costs. On a very modest positive note, the company's cable and television holdings pushed overall revenue up .4 percent to $959.1 million, according to the Reuters article.

The breadth of the company's grim performance is evident in the 2013 1Q net income figure of $4.7 million or 64 cents a share, compared to 1Q results a year ago of $31 million or $4.07 a share. Poor financial performance by the WaPo Co. is becoming the norm (see "TUOL" post 5/10/11).