McClatchy's revenues drops in August

By Dale Kasler
Sacramento Bee Staff Writer
The McClatchy Co., still mired in a slump that's afflicted newspaper publishers everywhere, on Wednesday reported a 9.2 percent decline in advertising revenue for August. Total revenue fell 8.4 percent.

Sacramento-based McClatchy, which owns The Bee, said a big problem was the continuing decline in real estate advertising. Its papers in California and Florida have been especially hard hit.

"We expect little improvement in advertising trends before the fourth quarter of 2007 and expect that revenue will likely still be negative in that quarter," Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Pruitt said in a press release. "But we are not accepting business on these terms - indeed we are working hard to mitigate the impact of revenue declines by exerting strong cost discipline."

August revenue totaled $169.4 million.

Newspapers have been struggling with a shift of business to other media, especially the Internet, as well as a slow economy that has cut advertising. Total revenue year to date is down 7.1 percent.

McClatchy's stock was trading at $21.19 a share, down a penny, on the New York Stock Exchange.