• by Erik Sass , May 15, 2007

Tribune Company's publishing ad revenues--the bulk of its business--were down 10.3% in April compared to the same month last year, tumbling $25 million to $217 million. Coming a month after Chicago billionaire Sam Zell agreed to purchase the company, the weak results are a reminder that the real-estate mogul has his work cut out for him. They're also an ominous symptom of the deteriorating health of the newspaper industry as a whole, after alarming downturns in the first quarter of the year.

Total publishing revenues at Tribune, including circulation revenues, were down 8.6% to $279 million. Ad revenues in particular suffered from a 6.8% drop in retail advertising, and an 8.2% drop in national advertising, including continuing weakness in the auto category. Worst of all, however, was a 14.9% drop in classified revenues--traditionally a mainstay of the newspaper business. This included a 20% drop in real-estate classifieds, a 13% drop in help wanted, and a 12% drop in automotive.

April also saw the extension of another ominous continuing trend--a slowdown in the percentage rate of growth at the company's online revenues. While its interactive revenues still increased a healthy 20% over April of 2006, that's a drop from the 27% average rate of growth in second-quarter 2006. If May and June match April's $21 million for a second-quarter total of $63 million, that would constitute just 10.5% growth over last year's $57 million.

Monthly results from other big newspaper owners aren't yet available, but first-quarter results suggest the slowdown is not confined to Tribune. Its competitors will probably post similar April results in the near future.