New York Times turns a profit

The New Yorjk Times on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $39.1 million, up from $21.1 million in the period a year earlier, as another steep drop in advertising revenue was largely offset by aggressive cost-cutting.

A favorable tax adjustment inflated the earnings in the most recent quarter. But even discounting that factor, Thursday's results marked a return to profitability — albeit slight — after a first-quarter loss of $74.5 million.

The net income was 27 cents a share, compared with 15 cents a year earlier. Excluding special items like one-time charges and the tax adjustment, net income in the most recent quarter was 8 cents a share; analyst had forecast, on a comparable basis, a 4-cent loss.Ad revenue at the company’s newspapers and related Web sites fell 31.9 percent in the quarter, the sharpest decline yet in the industry’s severest contraction since the Depression. The drop was about the same, 31.7 percent, at the company’s New York Times Media Group, consisting primarily of the flagship Times newspaper — a departure from the pattern through most of the downturn, in which The Times held up better than the other newspapers, including the Boston Globe.e.

Times Company circulation revenue rose 1.5 percent in the last quarter, based on newspaper price increases.

Overall operating revenue in the quarter was $584.5 million, down 21.2 percent. At the New York Times Media Group, revenue fell 21.8 percent, to $374.8 million. At the New England Media Group — primarily The Boston Globe — it dropped 19.2 percent, to $109.4 million.

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