Washington Post 2009 Annual Report Download - page 10

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2010
2009
8
THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY
advertising has traditionally accounted for roughly
25% to 30% of local TV station revenues, and in early
2009 there simply was no automotive advertising.
Post–Newsweek CEO Alan Frank and our excellent
team of station managers responded by reinforcing
our traditional priorities: focus on building our audi-
ence and emphasize local news. We have work to do
in all our markets, but our stations in San Antonio,
Jacksonville, Miami and Detroit retained their tra-
ditional news leadership; gratifyingly, the Orlando
station (under Company news veteran Skip Valet)
showed significant ratings improvement; progress
was slower, but real, in Houston.
Every Post Company shareholder should be grateful
to Alan and the Post–Newsweek team; it was their
lowest year in profits in 15 years, but one of their best
management jobs.
MIXED NEWS FROM CABLE-LAND
2009 was a simply fantastic year for Cable ONE. Tom
Might and his management team set an all-time, hon-
est-to-God record for operating income (adjusted for
inflation or any way you want it) in a year when our
other media properties were going backward. We
don’t expect cable profits to go up in 2010 (we won’t
increase cable rates this year), but they will still be
high compared to historic norms.
One big surprise here is negative: profits in our legacy
test prep business shrank meaningfully for a second
straight year. The economic climate and a flood of new
boutique-style competition were responsible. Kaplan is
aggressively taking steps to bolster its leadership posi-
tion. You will hear more about our progress next year.
Our revenues also suffered because our professional
training businesses include large units helping stu-
dents prepare for finance and real estate careers.
Demand continued to slow in 2009.
International operations were something of a bright
spot. After being jolted by the financial crisis, partic-
ularly during the first six months, both European and
Asian operations improved throughout the year. We
have very good prospects overseas.
Probably the most important thing that happened
at Kaplan was Andy Rosen’s impressive performance
as CEO. As I expected when he succeeded Jonathan
Grayer, who built Kaplan so successfully, we have
another outstanding leader.
BROADCASTING
The television business faces challenges, but so far
Post–Newsweek Stations has responded to them very
well. Advertising results in 2009 — especially in the
first half of the year — were very bad. Automotive