Washington Post plans to take $70 million writedown

The Washington Post Co plans to take a $70 million writedown after concluding that the estimated fair value of its online lead generation business is less than its reported carrying value. The publisher of the namesake newspaper plans to record the writedown in the fourth quarter of 2008, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
After taxes, it estimates the impact to be $67 million. The Post is one of several US newspaper publishers that have written down the value of their properties as advertising revenue shrinks and their stock prices plunge. The New York Times Co, Lee Enterprises and McClatchy Co and other publishers have written down billions of dollars in the past several years.