Although the Washington Post Company is facing a lot of scrutiny from Congress for its business practices, apparently it’s still doing rather well financially. According to an article by Brett Pulley and Dan Golden in Bloomberg News:
Washington Post Co. said third- quarter profit more than tripled on sales growth in its higher- education unit, which is facing government scrutiny, and a pickup in advertising revenue at its newspaper business.
The publisher of the Washington Post newspaper had a net income of $61.2 million, or $6.84 a share, compared with $17.3 million, or $1.81, a year earlier, according to a statement from the company today. Sales rose 7.3 percent to $1.19 billion. Earnings doubled at the Kaplan education unit, which accounts for almost two-thirds of revenue.
While earnings doubled at Kaplan, apparently enrollment in Kaplan’s for-profit colleges is not growing as rapidly as before. Pulley and Golden report that enrollment grew 8 percent in the third quarter, down from 18 percent in the second quarter.
Kaplan’s education unit, which includes both the colleges and a large test preparation business, makes up almost two-thirds of the Washington Post’s Company’s revenue.
The Department of Education is likely to issue regulations on debt loads for students at for-profit schools soon. Iowa’s Senator Tom Harkin also appears to be continuing his investigation of proprietary schools. The next quarter might not be so lucrative for the Washington Post Company. [Image via]
