• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 3, 2011

A year after the Reader's Digest Association exited bankruptcy protection, the company announced that revenues dropped again in the fourth quarter. It also said that net income improved considerably, reflecting greater efficiency and strict cost-control measures following its bankruptcy, as well as a return to growth in advertising revenues and pages.

RDA's total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010 came to $521.8 million, down 15.9% from $620.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Seventy percent of the decline reflected planned reductions and product terminations as part of the company's strategy to achieve greater efficiency, including a rate base reduction at flagship Reader's Digest, from 8 million to 5 million.

Total advertising revenues at RDA's Lifestyle Communities division, which includes its various publications, such as Every Day With Rachael Ray, actually increased 13.2% in the fourth quarter and 17.5% for the full year of 2010 compared to 2009.

This resulted from a 3.1% increase in ad pages in the fourth quarter and 9.4% in the full year. Meanwhile net income rose from a net loss of $26.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 to a gain of $58.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. For the full year, RDA recorded a net loss of $40.5 million in 2010, down from $921.4 million in 2009.

In their presentation, RDA execs outlined the company's multi-stage plan to put itself on a firm financial footing: from 2008-2009, the company focused on supply chain management, followed by an emphasis on overhead reduction in 2009-2010. In 2011, the main focus will be realignment of its international operations, including increased emphasis on direct marketing with more, higher-margin non-published products and services.

The Atlantic Relaunches The Atlantic Wire

The Atlantic has relaunched The Atlantic Wire, originally planned as a forum and aggregation engine for opinion and commentary, as a general news aggregator, covering categories including politics, business, entertainment, technology, national and global. As part of the relaunch, The Atlantic has hired Gabriel Snyder, previously digital editor of Newsweek, to oversee the operation.

It will also increase the number of staff at The Atlantic Wire to 15. The relaunch comes as blog star Andrew Sullivan moves from The Atlantic to the Daily Beast; it is probably intended to help bolster the site's online audience to offset any loss with the departure of the popular online opinion-maker.

Consumer Reports Bows iPad App

To little fanfare, Consumer Reports unveiled its new digital edition app for the iPad this week, beginning with a free preview issue. The preview issue includes reviews of unsurprising categories including kitchenware, SUVs, and -- you guessed it -- tablet computers. No word yet on Consumer Reports' plans for subscription or single-copy sales.

The venerable product-reviewing title launched its mobile site last May, giving users mobile access to product reviews, ratings, studies and related content including shopping advice, polls, user-generated content and reviews and CR blogs. Consumers can also choose to receive updates, including product recalls via text messages.

Rich Jumps From NYT To New York

In one of the biggest editorial poaches yet for 2011, longtime New York Times columnist Frank Rich is jumping ship for New York, where he will serve as editor at large beginning in June. Rich will write a column on politics and culture and edit a new section covering the same -- following 31 years with the NYT, including over a decade (from 1980-1993) as the newspaper's chief drama critic.