By Jennifer Saba
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital subscribers to the New York Times more than doubled from the last financial quarter, sending shares of its parent company up nearly 6 percent, despite an industry-wide slump in print advertising.
New York Times Co said on Thursday its flagship property had 224,000 digital subscribers at the end of the second quarter, up from more than 100,000 in April.
"The (digital) numbers came in about as expected," said Douglas Arthur, an analyst with Evercore Partners. "There was some expectation of a blowout kind of number. I don't think it's that. I think it's a good number."
Excluding severance and other special items, the company earned 14 cents per share, beating analysts' average estimate of 9 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
While the company is making headway with its digital subscriptions, it still cannot shake a print advertising slump clinging to the newspaper industry.
Total revenue in the quarter fell 2.2 percent to $576.7 million, dragged down by a 6.4 percent decline in print advertising.
Indeed, newspaper bellwether Gannett Co, which publishes USA Today, reported lower quarterly revenue and profit as advertisers continued to pull back on spending.
New York Times Chief Executive Janet Robinson warned in a statement that "economic and industry conditions continue to present challenges" and that advertisers remain wary.
The New York Times started charging for some access to the NYTimes.com and related digital products in March in an experiment that has been closely watched by general interest newspapers.
Digital advertising revenue at the News Media Group, which includes the NYTimes.com, rose almost 16 percent to $58.2 million.
The company, which also publishes the Boston Globe, said it is seeking a buyer for the remaining shares of the company that owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team. Earlier this month, it sold more than half of its stake in the Fenway Sports Group for a total of $117 million in cash.
Revenue at the About Group, which includes the About.com network of websites, fell about 17 percent to $27.8 million, hurt by changes Google made to its search results formula.
The company reported a second-quarter net loss of $119.7 million, or 81 cents loss per share, compared with a net profit of $32 million, or 21 cents per share, for the same period last year.
The loss resulted from a non-cash charge of 93 cents per share primarily at its regional media group, which includes newspapers in California, Florida and other states in the southeast.
Shares of the New York Times rose 5.7 percent at $9.48 in morning trade.
(Reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Derek Caney)
