Tribune Publishing had encouraging digital business results in 2020. The data was made available as part of the company’s Q4 and full year financial results released this week. All major newspaper companies are pointing to digital subscriptions as a core part of reinventing their business model.
Digital only subscribers grew 30.5% to 436,000 by the end of Q4 2020. That is up from 334,000 in the same time period a year earlier.
Digital content revenues increased 57% to $16.5 million for full year 2020.
The company increased in cash by $36.7 million compared to a year earlier. The company reduced lease obligations by $51.1 million, pension obligations by $3.5 million and a capital lease by $6.9 million. We reported on some of Tribune’s moves in Chicago HQ real estate earlier this year. They moved out of Prudential Plaza to their Freedom Center printing facility along the Chicago River.
Terry Jimenez, Tribune Publishing CEO and President, said, “Despite the challenges the pandemic has presented, we were able to grow Adjusted EBITDA over both the third and fourth quarters compared to the prior-year periods, with fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $27.3 million improving 7.3% over 2019.”
Q4 2020
The fourth quarter in 2020 saw revenues drop $46.7 million to $192.7 million-a 19.5% decrease. Advertising revenue was challenging and declined by $32.7 million. Furthermore, circulation revenue fell by 3.4% to $3.1 million. The declines in home delivery and single copy were offset a bit by an increase of $5.4 million in digital subscriptions. More so, that increase was driven by an increased number of digital subscribers as well as higher subscription rates per subscriber.
The report states that “income from continuing operations was $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to a loss of $8.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, driven partially by an improvement in revenue declines compared to the prior 2020 quarters and aggressive cost management.”
2021 Outlook
For Q1 2021, Tribune Publishing expects total revenues of $170 million to $172 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $22 million to $23 million.
The company will become a privately held company when the merger with Alden Global Capital closes in Q2 2021. That is assuming the deal passes anti-trust reviews.
Tribune entered into a merger agreement with Alden. Furthermore, Alden will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Tribune common stock not currently owned by Alden for $17.25 per share in cash.
Alden owns MediaNewsGroup, which operates 200 publications. Titles include the Denver Post, Mercury News, Orange County Register and Boston Herald.
Tribune, briefly known as tronc, is a media company which owns local media businesses in eight markets. Tribune newspapers include the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, and Orlando Sentinel. The Baltimore Sun, currently a Tribune property, will be sold to local ownership as part of the merger agreement with Alden.
Together, Tribune and Alden would control media properties in half of the top 10 markets in the United States. This includes the three biggest media markets in the country, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong says a Wall Street Journal report about a potential sale of The Los Angeles Times is “inaccurate”. However, The Los Angeles Times owner may seek a partnership with a larger media company. The new Alden-Tribune firm could be a potential ally. The Times was operated by Tribune before Dr. Soon-Shiong bought the newspaper in February 2018 for nearly $500 million in cash and assumption of $90 million in debt.
