The post-merger Gannett Co. took a beating on Wall Street on Thursday morning after its fourth-quarter report showed declining revenues.
This is the first time the media company, which owns newspapers including the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and MetroWest Daily News and is made up of the previous companies Gannett and GateHouse Media, has reported earnings following the merger on Nov. 19. Many of the numbers, including a net loss of $95 million in the fourth quarter were attributed to the cost of the merger and paying down debt from Legacy Gannett.
However, taken as separate parts, both Legacy Ganett and Legacy GateHouse saw fourth quarter, year-over-year declines of roughly 10% in store revenues, between 15 and 20% declines in print advertising revenues, marginal declines in digital revenues, and circulation revenue losses around 10%. A bright spot for the company was increased digital-only subscriber numbers climbing 25.3% year-over-year to approximately 812,000. At the end of the fourth quarter, the company had a cash balance of $156 million.
This news was not greeted well on Wall Street, with stocks plummeting nearly 17% by 10:30 a.m. to $4 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, bringing the stock to a 36% drop year-to-date.Â
