Tribune Publishing shares were down more than 20 percent in midday trading on Monday after the company pulled back from an earlier forecast for revenues and earnings — and largely blamed its Southern California papers for the problem.
In an unusual press release issued after markets had closed Friday, the company said EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for the year will probably be about 13 percent lower than it had said in August.
The release goes on to quote CFO Sandra F. Martin as saying:
Revised guidance reflects lower forecasted revenue estimates for the year, concentrated in Southern California. Expense mitigation efforts partially offset this decline, but are expected to be unfavorably impacted by the delay of implementation of these efforts, principally in Southern California.
In other words, the company seems to be blaming recently fired Los Angeles Times publisher Austin Beutner both for weak advertising performance and for dragging his feet on expense reductions at the Times and the recently acquired San Diego Union Tribune.
The company, which last week reaffirmed its resolve to keep rather than sell the Times, has scheduled a conference call with investors for Tuesday morning to discuss the revised forecast.
Tribune was also subject of a critical New York Times article on Sunday, recapitulating conflicts between Tribune and Los Angeles executives and civic leaders. The article included harsh criticism of CEO Jack Griffin during his brief tenure running Time Warner’s magazine division.
Tribune Publishing became a separate company from parent Tribune Media’s TV and digital businesses just over a year ago. Its shares have traded as high as $23.
Update: The stock rallied some in the afternoon and closed for the day down 17.4 percent.