January 25, 2023
Financial Focus: A Key Week For Media Results
- by Paul Gough , January 26, 2004
The media week will kick off Tuesday, when publishers Meredith Corp. and the New York Times Co. and interactive leader Amazon will report. Amazon has said that this past holiday season was its biggest ever. Meredith, which owns some of the fastest-growing titles in the magazine industry, recently announced that it would increase the rate base on several of its magazines. Look for signs of whether the New York Times ad revenues have continued a recovery.
Wednesday will see earnings releases from Tribune, owner of television stations and the Chicago Tribune, among others; Time Warner, which recently ditched AOL from its name; Media General, publisher of mid-size newspapers in Virginia and elsewhere; and search engine Ask Jeeves.
On Thursday, three media companies will report: aQuantive, the Seattle-based interactive agency; pure-play newspaper publisher McClatchy; and interactive agency Digitas.
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Tribulation Amid Trial For Martha Stewart
Even as its founder goes through a trial that will decide her future, Wall Street is passing judgment on Martha Stewart Omnimedia--and it's good news. On Friday, Martha Stewart Omnimedia hit a 52-week high during trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It closed at $13.39 a share, down only slightly from the day's high of $13.40. It opened the day at $12.88. This is the highest the stock has been since June 25, 2002, when it reached a high of $13.90 before closing at $13.60. But it's nothing compared to the $18-$19 range that it was trading earlier in 2002.
CLARIFICATION -- MPG called and took issue with the Lehman Bros. report that we wrote about in last week's column. While Havas doesn't release financial details about account wins, MPG said that it has won the following in 2003: NASDAQ, Polaroid, Amtrak, Pergo, 8 O'Clock Coffee and Alamo National.
