Gannett's Profits Crumpled

Gannett's (GCI Quote) fourth-quarter profit tumbled 31%, hit by impairment charges and a plunge in advertising revenue as the newspaper industry continues to deal with widespread turbulence.

The McLean, Va., media giant said Friday that its net income dropped to $245.3 million, or $1.06 a share, from $353.5 million, or $1.51 a share, a year earlier.

The results included a charge of $50.8 million, or 22 cents a share, to write down the value of certain titles. Excluding this charge, earnings would have been $1.28 a share, a penny better than Thomson Financial's average analyst estimate.

Revenue dropped 11.9% to $1.90 billion from $2.15 billion the prior year, shy of Wall Street's target of $1.98 billion. ...