Dow Jones released its fourth-quarter earnings today, and disclosed the following pieces of information about the Wall Street Journal:
1. Losses from the Weekend Edition of The Wall Street Journal, launched Sept. 17, were about five cents per share in the fourth quarter.
2. Advertising linage at the U.S. Wall Street Journal, including Weekend Edition, increased 8.1% (up 17.0% in Dec.). Advertising yield (or revenue per line) declined slightly due to the heavier mix of lower yielding classified linage in the quarter. Advertising linage at the international editions of the Journal increased 20.6% (up 16.8% in Dec.). Barron’s advertising pages decreased 10.2% in the quarter (down 9.2% in Dec.).
3. The first quarter 2006 estimate includes losses of about six cents per share from Weekend Edition. The Company expects total linage at the U.S. Wall Street Journal including Weekend Edition will be up in the mid single digits percentage range compared to the first quarter 2005.
The advertising is interesting in comparison to what McGraw-Hill reported yesterday for BusinessWeek, as that rate was a decrease. Still, the advertising rate at the Journal was below what analysts were predicting, according to this AP story.
