Shares of McClatchy, owner of the News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer, jumped more than 25 percent today after the Sacramento, Calif.-based newspaper chain reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.

The company reported net income of $42 million, or 49 cents per share, compared to income of $15.7 million, or 18 cents per share, during the fourth quarter of 2010.

That beat the consensus of 40 cents per share among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Revenues in the fourth quarter were $351.4 million, down 5 percent from the same period in 2010. Advertising revenues were down 5.7 percent and circulation revenues were down 3 percent.
 

The New York Times is in discussions to sell its 16 regional newspapers, including three publications in North Carolina -- The Wilmington Star-News, the Hendersonville Times-News and the Lexington Dispatch.

The company confirmed the talks with Halifax Media Holdings in a release.

The Times has made a number of cost-cutting moves in recent years, including selling its headquarters building and its ownership stake in the Boston Red Sox.

The Times, along with the entire newspaper industry, has been pummeled in recent years by a dramatic downturn in advertising spending and the ongoing shift to online.

The Times recently instituted a pay wall on its website whereby readers can read a certain number of stories for free each month before they are asked to subsribe.

Smaller regional newspapers have been hit particularly hard by the decline in classified ads.
 

Newspaper publisher The McClatchy Co. reported weaker third earnings today, with ad revenues slumping 10 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Third-quarter revenue fell to $300.2 million, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier. While better than the double-digit declines the company recorded during the depths of the recession, today's results are further proof of how the weak economy is continuing to hurt newspapers.

Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy publishes 30 daily papers across the country, including the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Miami Herald. Its papers in Florida and California have been especially hard hit by the housing slump and high unemployment rate.

Net income fell to $12.4 million, or 14 cents a share.

Newspaper publisher The McClatchy Co. reported weaker sales and profit this morning, as the slump in advertising and circulation revenue continued.

Second-quarter revenue fell to $314.3 million, down 8.1 percent from a year earlier. That rate of decline was an improvement from double-digit declines during the depths of the recession, but still reflects a weak economy that's hurting the newspaper business.

Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy publishes 30 daily papers across the country, including the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Miami Herald. Its papers in Florida and California have been especially hard hit by the housing slump and high unemployment rate.

John C. Brantley and Raleigh-Durham International Airport have found it hard to say good-bye to each other, and the RDU board this week persuaded Brantley to stay a few months longer as airport director.

Brantley announced in March that he would retire July 31 from the job he has held since 1982. But board members don’t want to appoint a temporary replacement, and they asked him to stay until they hired a permanent successor.

“He’s flexible, and we certainly want to minimize any gap in leadership,” Terry Yeargan of Willow Spring, the RDU Authority board chairman, said today. “We agreed it would be good if he stayed on through the fall.” ... [MORE]

The News & Observer is transferring newsroom production work to a new center in Charlotte.

Beginning in August, the new center will perform copy editing and page design for The N&O and its community newspapers, as well as The Charlotte Observer and The Herald of Rock Hill, S.C., which also are owned by The McClatchy Co.

In all, about 25 N&O positions are being moved to the center, which will be housed in the Observer's building in Charlotte. The papers' computer servers and much of the technical support staff are in Charlotte.

All N&O copy editors and designers will have the opportunity to relocate to the new center.

"Given the new economic realities of our industry, we must find more efficient ways to deliver the very best products to our readers and advertisers, and we are confident the new center will be an important part of our future," said Orage Quarles III, publisher of The N&O.

The McClatchy Co. has sold its waterfront property in downtown Miami for $236 million, as the newspaper publisher divests some real-estate assets to bolster its financial health.

McClatchy, which is the parent corporation of The News & Observer, will use most of the money to fund its pension plan. That will free up more future profits to continue repaying the company's massive debt.

Bond-rating agency Moody's raised its outlook on McClatchy's $1.75 billion of debt to positive from stable after the news.

And McClatchy's shares rose 19 cents to $2.95 today. The stock is still down 37 percent this year.

McClatchy sold the Miami property to Genting, a Malaysian-based developer of casinos and resorts.

The News & Observer will eliminate about 20 jobs in the latest cost-cutting effort by the Raleigh-based media company.

The staff reductions announced today will affect most areas of the company, including the newsroom. Some employees will have the opportunity to accept voluntary severance packages, but a few positions will be eliminated through layoffs.  

The newspaper publisher continues to see declines in print advertising revenue, mirroring similar trends nationwide. Online ad revenue is increasing, but is still a smaller part of the total.

"Although our declines are not as steep as they have been in previous years, revenue trends remain negative year-over-year," publisher Orage Quarles III wrote in a memo to employees this morning. "As a result, we must continue to look for ways to offset this trend by managing expenses.

"We understand how difficult this message is to receive given other reduction programs we have done over the last few years," he wrote. "However, we are working hard to implement new products and improve our revenue performance to help us navigate through these difficult times."

The McClatchy Co. reported weaker first-quarter results, hurt by ongoing declines in advertising and circulation revenue.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based company publishes The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and other newspapers across the country. Its shares fell 10 percent Tuesday to close at $3.19, and are down 42 percent in the past year.

Despite the slowly reviving economy, newspaper publishers are still struggling with soft ad sales, especially for their traditional print product. McClatchy and others continue to slash costs and look for new ways to boost their digital content and revenue.

The McClatchy Co. reported weaker fourth-quarter profit and revenue this morning, and the newspaper publisher warned that January brought bigger declines in advertising sales as the economic recovery remains shaky.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based publisher of The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and other newspapers across the country has been slashing costs to offset lower ad sales and to repay debt. McClatchy, like other media companies, was hit hard during the recession and is scrambling to beef up its online content as advertisers and readers migrate to the Internet.

For the final quarter of 2010, the company reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $33.6 million, or 39 cents per share. That was down from $49.6 million, or 59 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 5.9 percent to $369.9 million.