By: Mark Fitzgerald Updating its first financial report after splitting from its more lucrative cable and online siblings, E.W. Scripps Tuesday reported a second-quarter loss of $531 million, or $9.78 a share, on impairment charges of $874 million.
Of those non-cash charges, $779 million reflected a writedown in goodwill -- and another $95 million was a reduction in the carrying value of its stake in the Denver joint operating agreement, where it publishes the Rocky Mountain News jointly with MediaNews Group's Denver Post.
On July 24, E.W. Scripps had reported a Q2 profit of $51.2 million, or 94 cents a share, down from $97.5 million, or $1.78 a share, in the same period for 2007.
"Due primarily to the continuing negative effects of the economy on our advertising revenues and those of other publishing companies, and the difference between our stock price following the spin-off of Scripps Networks Interactive to shareholders and the per share carrying value of our remaining net assets, we determined that indications of impairment existed as of June 30, 2008," E.W. Scripps said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In July, E.W. Scripps spun off its newspaper and local broadcast properties from its lifestyle cable television network and online ventures, which are publicly traded under the name Scripps Networks Interactive.
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