The Washington Post Company
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NYSE: WPO S&P 500 Component |
| Industry | Education and Media |
| Founded | August 4, 1947 |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Key people | Donald Graham (Chairman and CEO) Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr. (Vice Chairman) |
| Products | Newspapers Magazines Educational Services Television Cable television Electronic media |
| Revenue |  US$ 4.724 billion (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | US$ 547 million (2010)[1] |
| Net income | US$ 278 million (2010)[1] |
| Total assets |  US$ 5.158 billion (2010)[1] |
| Total equity | US$ 2.814 billion (2010)[1] |
| Employees | 20,000 (2010)[1] |
| Website | www.washpostco.com |
The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) is an American education and media company, best known for owning the newspaper for which it is named, The Washington Post. The Company also owns Kaplan, Inc., a leading international provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses. In addition, the Company owns The Slate Group, Express, El Tiempo Latino, The Gazette and Southern Maryland newspapers, The Herald (Everett, WA), Post-Newsweek Stations (Detroit, Houston, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Jacksonville), Cable ONE, a cable TV and Internet service provider with subscribers in midwestern, western and southern states, and Avenue100 Media Solutions, an online lead generation provider. The Company previously owned Newsweek and Newsweek.com, but sold the magazine in 2010 after years of financial losses.[2]
The Washington Post Company history dates back to 1877, when the Post was first published. The Washington Post Company was incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1889,[3] and remained a District of Columbia corporation until it changed its state of incorporation to Delaware in 2003.[4] It is a public company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WPO, and went public in 1971. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Apart from the family of the late Eugene Meyer, Berkshire Hathaway is also a substantial shareholder.
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[edit] Education
- Kaplan, Inc. — Kaplan is one of the world's largest providers of educational services. Kaplan focuses on three areas: higher education, professional training, and test preparation.
Headquartered in New York City under the leadership of CEO Andrew Rosen, Kaplan had $2.3 billion in revenue in 2008. It is The Washington Post Company's fastest growing division and its largest revenue producer.
The Kaplan Higher Education unit had campuses where students defaulted on federal loans at rate of higher than 30 percent, more than three times the rate at private, nonprofit colleges, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Education.[5] The high default rate may even trigger the loss of student aid under federal rules that take effect in 2012.[5] When students default on their debt taxpayers are stuck with the bill and the students have their credit destroyed. Kaplan's marketing campaign targets especially veterans, single mothers and low-income students.[6][7] According to the U.S. News and World Report, only 33 percent of Kaplan students graduate within six years.[8]
- StudentAdvisor.com - is the latest education resource launched by the Washington Post Company. StudentAdvisor.com is an education research (reviews written by students, alumni and parents) and comparison destination (tools to download and compare multiple colleges) for students, parents and lifetime learners.
[edit] Newspapers
- The Washington Post
- The Herald — Everett, Washington
- Express — A free daily commuter paper in the Washington Metro Area.
- El Tiempo Latino
- The Gazette (35 weekly newspapers and a subscription-based state-wide weekend business and politics newspaper, in Maryland; plus military newspapers and suburban Maryland real estate guides)
- Greater Washington Publishing
- Washington Post Writers Group
[edit] Broadcasting
The official name of the broadcast division, dating back to the 1970s, is Post-Newsweek Stations. Post-Newsweek stations is based in Detroit, Michigan and currently owns 6 VHF stations, all in the Top 50 markets. All the stations are branded under the "Local Mandate," which happens to be a station standardization adopted by Post-Newsweek. (Examples: KPRC is "Local 2" and WPLG is "Local 10".)
| Current DMA# | Market | Station | Channel (DT) | Current Affiliation | Acquired | Notes |
| 10. | Houston, Texas | KPRC-TV | 2 (35) | NBC | 1994 | |
| 11. | Detroit, Michigan | WDIV | 4 (45) | NBC | 1978 | Flagship; founded by the Evening News Association as WWJ-TV before being traded to Post-Newsweek in exchange for WTOP-TV in 1977. |
| 16. | Miami, Florida | WPLG | 10 (9) | ABC | 1969 | Calls are tribute to Philip L. Graham, developer of Miami Lakes |
| 19. | Orlando, Florida | WKMG-TV | 6 (26) | CBS | 1997 | Calls are tribute to Katharine Graham (was WCPX until 1998) |
| 37. | San Antonio, Texas | KSAT-TV | 12 (48) | ABC | 1994 | |
| 49. | Jacksonville, Florida | WJXT | 4 (42) | Independent | 1959 | Was a CBS affiliate from 1949 until 2002 |
Post-Newsweek also owned two other television stations in the past. Both were at one time or another company flagships.
| Current DMA# | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Owned by WPO/PNS | Current Owner | Notes |
| 9. | Washington, D.C. | WTOP-TV | 9 | CBS | 1950-78 | Gannett | Post-Newsweek's flagship/headquarters until 1977; traded to the Evening News Association for WWJ-TV and became WDVM, today known as Gannett flagship WUSA |
| 30. | Hartford, Connecticut | WFSB | 3 | CBS | 1974-97 | Meredith | Flagship 1980s-1997 (and headquarters until 2000) |
[edit] Cable
[edit] Interactive
- The Slate Group
- Avenue100 Media Solutions - A leading analytics-based performance marketing company.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f "2010 Form 10-K, The Washington Post Company". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104889/000119312511053497/d10k.htm.
- ^ Washington Post. Harman Media buys Newsweek from Washington Post Co. for undisclosed amount.
- ^ District of Columbia Corporation records show the original Washington Post Company was registered as a domestic corporation in 1889
- ^ District of Columbia Corporation records show the original DC-based corporation's charter was revoked in 2003 and replaced by a Delaware-based foreign corporation.
- ^ a b Lauerman, John; John Hechinger (Feb 4, 2011). "For-Profit College Defaults Jump to 25% as Rule Looms". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-04/for-profit-college-defaults-jump-to-25-as-rule-looms-update2-.html. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Daniel, Golden (November 4, 2010). "Online Colleges Target Veterans". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_46/b4203026910225.htm. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Lewin, Tamar (November 9, 2010). "Scrutiny Takes Toll on For-Profit College Company". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/education/10kaplan.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ "Kaplan University U.S. News Ranking". http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/kaplan-university-4586/rankings. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
[edit] External links
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