Torstar Corp. has reported another staggering multimillion loss for the fourth quarter of 2015, normally a period when a company should make at least some money. Analysts expecting a small profit per share got instead another loss. The company posted the surprise loss due in part to the Star’s slumping print ad sales. This is a story that has dragged on through several years and has seen the paper’s share price plummet. It ended trading Wednesday at $1.94, down more than five dollars since the beginning of the 2015. Some analysts think the day that the Star converts to a full digital tablet publication cannot be long-delayed. That’s what happened to Montreal’s La Presse, another icon of print news. It converted to tablet-only format and claims to be doing well. The Star has a similar tablet, Star Touch, based on the La Presse model and is investing heavily in it. But the hemorrhaging cash cannot be ignored forever. Today Torstar said it had written down its newspapers’ value by more than $200 million, contributing to a net loss of $233.4 million, or $2.90 per share, from continuing operations, compared with a year-earlier profit of $20.9 million, or 26 cents a share. Revenue fell an amazing 8.4 percent to $213.7 million.
