NEW YORK (AP) – Earnings at The Associated Press shrank substantially last year compared with 2015, when the news organization enjoyed a large tax benefit that skewed its results. Revenue also edged downward, reflecting continued contraction in the newspaper industry and a stronger U.S. dollar that reduced the value of overseas sales.
Net income last year shrank to $1.6 million from $183.6 million in 2015, a 99 percent decline. The 2015 profit figure was bolstered by a one-time, $165 million tax benefit. AP’s 2014 net income of $140.9 million was also boosted by a large non-recurring gain from the sale of a stake in a sports data company. In 2013, net income at the AP – a nonprofit news cooperative – was $3.3 million.
Although AP’s 2016 profit was slightly less than half that of 2013, AP chief financial officer Ken Dale said last year brought the company’s net results “back to more normal levels.”
Dale said he was focused on other measures of the company’s financial health. “We feel like we’re financially stable, we have no debt and we continue to generate positive cash flow,” he said. AP ended 2016 with $24.7 million in cash and equivalents, down from $50.6 million the year before.
Revenue at AP dropped 2 percent to $556.3 million in 2016. The news agency gave some papers lower rates in exchange for longer contracts, Dale said. The number of U.S. newspaper customers didn’t change much.