LONDON (Brand Republic) - Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has surprised analysts by issuing a warning that first-quarter earnings will be well below expectations.
The publisher joins a list of US publishers affected by declining advertising revenues because of a slowdown in the US economy.
Shares in Dow Jones plunged $4.38 (£2.98) to $56.97 (£38.80) on the NYSE yesterday when the publisher said that first-quarter earnings would be between 16 and 20 cents a share, drastically short of forecasts of 56 cents a share. Dow Jones told analysts in January that its earnings expectations were too high.
The New York Times Company warned on Monday that its earnings would fall as much as 26% against last year鈥檚 figures.
This was followed by an announcement by Knight Ridder, publisher of the Miami Herald and the San Jose Mercury News in Silicon Valley, that the Mercury had experienced a sharp decline in employment advertising. Reports indicate that the title could make cuts from its 1,700-strong workforce.
Analysts said yesterday that difficult comparisons from a year ago, when dotcom advertising was at a peak, should ease in the second half of 2001.