When The New York Times Company bought About.com last year, there were a lot of people questioning the sanity of NYT. Now, the latest reports are in. And, it looks like the NYT folks aren’t crazy after all:
Revenues rose 3.3 per cent to $831.8 million from $805.6 million a year ago. Much of the gain was attributable to the addition of the Internet company About.com which the Times acquired in March of last year.
Excluding About, revenues rose 1.1 per cent.
Overall advertising revenues at the company grew 3.9 per cent, but excluding the addition of revenues from About, they rose 0.7 per cent.
Of course, being a proud About Guide (on Web Logs), I already knew that the NYT knew exactly what they were getting. 
Online media is definitely rockin’. 
UPDATE (17/4/06):
- From The Washington Post:
Like other traditional media companies, the Times’ revenue from newspaper advertising has dropped off, resulting in a declining stock price over the past year. Its Internet offerings, however, have shown a glimmer of hope for a turnaround.
The company yesterday said that profit dropped 69 percent, to $35 million, for the first three months of the year, from $111 million in the comparable quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.3 percent, to $831.8 million. The Times’ acquisition last year of About.com appears to have paid off, as it reported a 98 percent increase in revenue for the Web site for the quarter. Total Internet business accounts for 7.5 percent of the company’s overall revenue, compared with 4.5 percent in the same period last year, the report said.
“Clearly, the Times sees the future on the Internet and not on broadcast TV,” said John Morton, a newspaper analyst. “It’s smart. That part of the news business is growing very rapidly and is going to become very profitable.”
- Also Read The New York Times’ related article.
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