NEW YORK (AP) -- Newspaper publishers predicted modest growth for next year at a pair of investor conferences Wednesday, as rising costs and a volatile advertising environment continue to cloud their prospects.
However, companies like Gannett Co. and Belo Corp. that also own television stations said they expected to see benefits from the Winter Olympics and the upcoming elections next fall.
Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimons told investors that the company cut a total of 900 jobs in 2005, or about 4 percent of its work force, mainly in its publishing business.
"Clearly the year hasn't been what we hoped it would be," he said, noting that publishing revenues have been flat in the year to date, while broadcasting revenues were down 5.5 percent.
Tribune has cut jobs this year at Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other papers in an effort to preserve profitability amid faltering revenues and rising costs including newsprint and employee benefits.
Other newspaper publishers including Knight Ridder Inc. and The New York Times Co. have also been cutting jobs this year amid faltering revenue growth and rising costs as more advertisers and readers move to the Internet and other media like cable TV.
Knight Ridder, which did not make a presentation at the investor conferences this year, has been forced by its largest investors to explore the possibility of a sale. Before that, shares of Knight Ridder and other major publishers had been down sharply for the year, but since then many of them have recovered on hopes of renewed deal activity in the sector.
However, the fate of Knight Ridder remains unclear. Private equity investors are said to be looking at the company, but the level of interest from industry leader Gannett Co., which many see as the most logical potential buyer among newspaper companies, is uncertain.
Gannett CEO Craig Dubow would only say that the company would take a "hard look" at any potential acquisition opportunities, without commenting directly on the potential of a deal involving Knight Ridder.
Meanwhile, Gracia Martore, Gannett's chief financial officer, said the company expects to see "modest" growth in newspaper advertising demand next year, based on current market conditions.
Gannett said it sees newspaper advertising rising in the low to mid single digits, while McClatchy Co. said it expects similar growth. Belo said it sees mid-to-high single digit growth in newspaper advertising, while Journal Register Co. said it expects growth of 3 percent to 4 percent.
The New York Times Co., which has already announced 700 job cuts of its own this year, described the media marketplace as "challenging," a trend it expects to see continue through next year. The company said the outlook remained too uncertain to issue forecasts for revenues or earnings in 2006.
Peter Kann, the CEO of Dow Jones & Co., said that an announcement about his successor was likely to be made next year. Kann said he expected to retire some time in 2007, the year he turns 65, under Dow Jones rules. He said the company's board was "focused" on finding a replacement for him.
Dow Jones also reported Wednesday that advertising linage at the Journal rose 8.7 percent in November from the same month a year ago. However, that includes four extra issues because of the September launch of Weekend Edition, a Saturday edition of the newspaper.
That was an improvement from October, when linage rose just 1.1 percent compared with the same month a year ago, despite the addition of Weekend Edition. In the year to date, linage fell 2.1 percent.
The newspaper publishers were speaking at a pair of investor conferences sponsored by the brokerages UBS and Credit Suisse First Boston in New York.
