K-W Record — Torstar Corp., owner of the Toronto Star and other newspapers and the Harlequin book publishing company, reports that its fourth-quarter profit was stable despite a decline in revenue The Toronto-based company, which also owns the Waterloo Region Record, Hamilton Spectator, Guelph Mercury and other community newspapers across Canada, had $20.6 million of net income in the three months ended Dec. 31, little changed from $21.1 million a year earlier. Net income per share was unchanged at 26 cents; adjusted earnings fell one cent to 48 cents per share. Total revenue from Torstar’s newspaper and book divisions was $366.5 million, down seven per cent from $395.7 million a year earlier, although the media divisions revenue was up from the third quarter. K-W Record
Paywall effect and Rob Ford coverage:
There’s been a rally Thursday morning in Torstar shares on the improved news from that company. Some, like the Financial Post, are speculating that the paper’s crusade against Rob Ford may have helped to solidify its position after the free fall in ad sales and readership of recent years. It will certainly have increased readership but Torstar itself warns that advertising remains under great pressure. Today’s Q4 results seem to come largely from cost cutting and maybe some help from the relatively new reader paywall. The paywall experience has been a mixed one for newspapers. Some publications have removed this barrier after finding it lowered the number of online readers or “unique users”‘ in the language of the Internet. Bulldog
