Further to our 8 April 2008 piece on Kaplan and the Washington Post Company (‘Pulitzer Prizes and the global higher ed industry‘), the news today reinforces the significant role of Kaplan in keeping the Washington Post Company (and its newspaper) afloat. The press release is here, while a related story in the Washington Post newspaper puts it this way:
The Washington Post Co. today reported an 86 percent decline in third-quarter earnings compared with the same period last year, as a significant loss at the flagship newspaper offset gains at the company’s education and cable divisions.
For the quarter, The Post Co. had net income of $10.3 million ($1.08 per share) on $1.1 billion in revenue, compared with net income of $72.5 million ($7.60) on $1 billion in revenue in 2007.
The company’s newspaper division — which includes The Post, the Everett (Wash.) Herald and several community papers — reported an operating loss of $82.7 million for the quarter, largely resulting from a $59.7 million goodwill impairment charge at the Herald and the small papers, reflecting their diminished value. The loss also includes $12.5 million in accelerated depreciation of The Post’s College Park printing presses….
Kaplan Inc., The Post Co.’s education division, which now provides 53 percent of company revenue, reported $603 million in third-quarter revenue, a 17 percent gain over last year, and $51 million in operating income, a 36 percent gain over the same period last year.
The numbers above, and the Kaplan specific numbers below (from the press release), speak for themselves.
Kris Olds
GlobalHigherEd 