By: Mark Fitzgerald Gannett Co. Inc., which last month warned it would be taking a big non-cash write-down in goodwill and other impairment, said in a regulatory filing the charge amounted to $2.8 billion pre-tax, and $2.5 billion after taxes.
In mid-July, Gannett had issued a preliminary financial statement for its second-quarter, reporting earnings per share of $1.02 compared with $1.24 per share in the year-ago quarter.
In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gannett adjusted that to a Q2 2008 loss of $2,290.8 million or $10.03 per share from continuing operations, including the impairment charges. The year-ago earnings of from continuing operations were unchanged at $289.9 million, or $1.24 per diluted share.
Gannett said "softening business conditions and a decline in the company's stock price" required the impairment tests, as of March 31. The great majority of the write-down -- $2.1 billion, or $9.36 per share -- came from impairment to goodwill on its newspapers, Gannett said.
Another impairment charge of $176 million for other intangible publishing assets was required, the company said, "because revenue results from the underlying businesses have softened from what was expected at the time they were purchased."
The chain also took a $162 million after-tax charge on impairment of certain newspaper partnerships.
Gannett had previously estimated impairment would total between $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion on a prep-tax basis and $2.4 billion to $2.7 billion on an after-tax basis.
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