More Layoffs at New York Times

Newspaper publisher New York Times (NYT Quote) slashed third-quarter earnings guidance and set plans to cut 500 jobs, or 4% of its staff.

The company said the cutbacks will include 45 newsroom jobs at its flagship New York Times newspaper. In May the company set plans for an earlier layoff round that saw it cut almost 200 jobs.

The news came as the company reported disappointing August numbers, saying revenue rose just 0.6% from a year ago. Ad revenue rose 1.7%, but excluding newly acquired information site About.com, ad revenue was down 1% and total revenue was off 1.2%.

"August's performance reflects the difficult comparisons to last year when advertising revenues grew 7.8% as we benefited from the Republican National Convention in New York, the Democratic National Convention in Boston, and political and Olympic advertising at our broadcast stations," said CEO Janet Robinson.

"In September, our largest month in the quarter, advertising has been challenging and visibility remains limited. We continue to benefit from very strong double-digit advertising growth at our digital operations, particularly About.com. But elsewhere, advertising is weaker than expected. To address this, the Company is moving aggressively to reduce costs across all its business units," Robinson added.

The company said third-quarter earnings per share are expected to be in the range of 11 to 14 cents, compared to 33 cents last year. This includes costs of 4 to 6 cents a share on the earlier cutback. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had been looking for a 25-cent profit.

New York Times dropped 20 cents in late action Tuesday to $31.93.