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The value of 11 newspaper groups that have traded publicly since 2005 plummeted a combined $23.7 billion in the first half of this year.
The value fell nearly as much in six months as it had in the three previous years put together, writes Alan Mutter in his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog. The post points out that the companies in the group have lost a cumulative $49.7 billion in market capitalization in 3.5 years.
Journal Register Co. and the Sun-Times Media Group fared the worst in the 3 1/2-year period, losing 99.1% and 96.9% of their value respectively. Relative newcomer GateHouse, which had its IPO in November, 2006, lost 72% of its value, while A.H. Belo has slipped 67% since its January 2008 debut (A.H. Belo is the newspaper pure-play spun-off by Belo).
Faring well, compared to their colleagues, were the more broadly diversified publishers. Washington Post Co. was down 23.5 percent, while News Corp. dropped 32.5 percent. Scripps, which has spun off its non-newspaper assets into a separate company, Scripps Network Interactive, fell a cumulative 12.4%. Mutter includes a table of newspaper company losses.
Despite the gloomy picture at home, newspapers are booming in developing countries, with circulation increasing in some cases in the double digits. Rising literacy rates and an increase in disposable income are helping boost newspaper readership.
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