Can’t vouch for these figures, but this is a blog and I reckon you can print a rumour. A well placed source, speaking to me in the last week, says The Times is on track to lose £20 million to £24 million this year. But it’s allright, because The Sunday Times is projected to lose a bit more.
How does that compare? What’s not clear if these figures are real ‘cash’ losses, or accounting numbers. The last reported figures for Times Newspapers Ltd, the immediate parent company of both newspapers, show a loss of £51.3 million in the year to June 29 2008. But they include two sets of non-cash depreciation charges, writing down investments in both old and new printing presses.
On the other hand, in trading terms 2008/09 would have been tougher because of the downturn, higher news print prices and fuel costs. And 2009/10 is hardly looking much better in trading terms (in the October to December quarter News Corp, the ultimate owner) said that advertising revenues across its UK papers, including The Sun and the News of the World, were level with last year.
News Corp, of course, has the deepest pockets around. It can, and does, invest on the page where others retreat. But if the projections are anything to go by, even at £1 a copy during the week, the economics are tough.
** Read Michael Wolff today on Rupert Murdoch on MySpace. Can’t say I agree with the conclusion, but it’s still worth a read.
[...] Former media editor for the Times, Dan Sabbagh, disagrees with Wolff’s conclusion, but has some interesting figures on the Times’ finances that are worth a look… [...]