10-K Watch: New York Times, By the—Reduced—Numbers

Rafat Ali
@rafatali
Feb 23, 2010 10:04 PM ET

That New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Company’s 2009 as a tough one is not a secret. How tough and how much did they have to do to “realign” the cost structure? Some numbers from its annual report 10-K filed yesterday.
—Reduced operating costs by about $475 million in 2009 and by approximately $136 million in 2008.
—Staff reduction efforts and other cost-saving initiatives lowered compensation-related costs and benefits expense by approximately $95 million.
—$53.9 million pre-tax charge for severance costs.
—Reduced the number of full-time equivalent employees by 18 percent; amended pension plan for non-union employees to discontinue future benefit accruals and freeze existing accrued benefits effective Dec 31, 2009; froze supplemental executive retirement plan that provided enhanced retirement benefits to select members of management; and reduced health benefits for retirees.
—Outsourced the editing function of The New York Times News Services Division to The Gainesville Sun, part of its Regional Media Group.
—In 2009, closed City & Suburban, which operated a wholesale distribution business that delivered The Times and other newspapers and magazines to newsstands and retail outlets in the New York metropolitan area; that improved its operating results in 2009 by about $35 million, excluding one-time costs.
—In 2009, sold off WQXR-FM to Univision Radio Inc. and WNYC Radio for a total of about $45 million. Sold the TimesDaily in Florence, Ala. for $11.5 million and divested surplus real estate at the Regional Media Group. It is still exploring the possible sale of its interest in NESV (Boston Red Sox).

—Total debt level at year-end 2009 decreased to $769 million, from $1.1 billion at the end of 2008.
—Decreased capital expenditures to $45 million in 2009, down from $127 million in 2008.
—For 2010, it projects capital expenditures to be between $40 and $50 million; depreciation and amortization to be $125 to $130 million and interest to be $85 to $90 million.
—About 66 percent of the weekday and 73 percent of the Sunday circulation was sold through subscriptions in 2009; the remainder was sold primarily on newsstands.
—IHT’s circ is decreasing: end of 2009 was about 219,256 and end of 2008 was 239,689.
—About Group: About 5 percent of NYT Co’s total revenues. Cost-per-click advertising represented 59 percent of the group’s revenues in 2009; principally derived from Google.
—About: Operating costs for the About Group decreased in 2009; lowered marketing costs ($2.1 million) and professional fees ($1.6 million).
—As of December 27, 2009, about 1,870 full-time equivalent employees of The Times and NYTimes.com were represented by 9 unions with 10 labor agreements. More than 40 percent of its full-time equivalent work force are unionized
—More than three quarters of the 1,498 full-time equivalent employees of the Globe and Boston.com are represented by 10 unions with 12 labor agreements, 10 of which were renegotiated during the second half of 2009.
—The IHT has approximately 300 employees worldwide, including approximately 176 located in France.
— In 2009, Internet revenues accounted for 13.8 percentof NYT Co’s revenues, versus 12.0 percent in 2008.
—Online ad revenues declined 10.9 percent in 2009, mainly due to classified advertising declines