Memo Pad: Gilles Bensimon's New Gig... No Turnaround at the Times...

NO TURNAROUND AHEAD: Retail and international fashion advertisers are pulling back all around, and it isn’t helping The New York Times Co. The newspaper publisher on Tuesday recorded a loss of $74 million for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $335,000 the prior year period. Total revenues fell 18.6 percent, to $609 million, and the company reported an operating loss of $61 million, compared with an operating profit of $6.2 million during the same period a year ago. During a conference call with analysts, president and chief executive Janet Robinson said advertisers have cut spending in all categories — national, retail and especially classified. Advertising revenue fell 27 percent and she expects the second quarter will be similar to the first. She also pointed to international fashion as a tough category during the period.

As for digital and the persistent question of whether the Times will once again begin charging for online journalism, Robinson said the company has recently looked at more than 30 online organizations and determined the ad model used at nytimes.com has generated more revenue than other organizations, which are in some cases much larger. However, she wants to find a way to add more revenue without affecting the site’s display ad business. “We will continue to explore different payment models,” Robinson noted. Total Internet revenues dropped 5.6 percent to $78.2 million during the quarter.

Another media company, Playboy Enterprises, informed analysts Tuesday it had received notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it is not in compliance with one of the continued listing criteria. To avoid being delisted, the company must submit a plan to the stock exchange within 45 days that describes how it expects to comply with continued listing standards within the next 18 months. Playboy is below the criteria because its average market cap over a 30 trading day period was below $75 million and shareholder equity was less than $75 million. — Amy Wicks