Pearson PLC, the parent of the Financial Times, reported its first half financial results Monday and noted that the business newspaper saw a drop in advertising revenue and circulation.
“Weaker advertising helped drive down sales at the unit 6% to £176 million from the year-earlier period. That contributed to a 53% fall in operating profit to £14 million — a sign of how a newspaper’s profits can be quickly wiped out by even a small drop in ad revenue because of the cost of maintaining a large staff of journalists.
“Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino said finance and recruiting ads were sharply down. Newspaper circulation often rises during a crisis but the Financial Times gave away fewer free copies in London’s financial district, Mrs. Scardino said, contributing to a 6% decline in world-wide daily circulation to 421,429. In the U.K., its home market, 24% of the FT’s circulation was given away or sold at a big discount in May, according to the U.K.’s Audit Bureau of Circulations Ltd.
“‘We’re all about who is reading it, not how many people read it,’ Mrs. Scardino said at a news briefing in London.”
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