MNI shares fell almost 8 percent yesterday before rallying at the close to remain changed after July revenue numbers showed an almost 20 percent drop compared to July of last year.
Drilling down a bit we find that the company’s Southeast operations — basically the Carolinas as Florida is broken out by itself — continue to underperform. Growth in the much-hyped online ad segment was only 8.4% compared to almost 12% company-wide and only half as much as the supposedly wrecked Florida market, which grew by 16%. Rut-roh.
Meanwhile, The Modesto Bee announced that it would offer buyouts to all full-time staff and move its print operation to MNI HQ in Sacramento. Is a similar offering coming to the Carolinas? Another possible move, hiking the newstand price for a daily edition — a curative other papers have tried in recent weeks.
Update: MNI is getting socked so far today, briefly hitting a new 52-week low of $3.30 a share. It may close down 10 percent on the day without another late rally.
