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The Washington Post Company is a diversified media and education company. Its media operations consist of newspaper publishing (principally The Washington Post), television broadcasting (through the ownership and operation of six television broadcast stations), magazine publishing (principally Newsweek magazine), and the ownership and operation of cable television systems. . Through its subsidiary Kaplan, Inc., the Company also provides educational services for individuals, schools and businesses. Its operations in areas outside the United States (consisting primarily of Kaplan's foreign operations and the publication of the international editions of Newsweek) accounted for approximately 7% of its consolidated revenues during the fiscal year ended January 1, 2006. In May 2006, Kaplan, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tribeca Learning Limited. On June 06, 2006, the Company acquired SpellRead, originator of SpellRead Phonological Auditory Training, a reading intervention program.
Newspaper Publishing
WP Company LLC (WP Company), a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company, publishes The Washington Post, which is a morning and Sunday newspaper primarily distributed by home delivery in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including large portions of Virginia and Maryland. WP Company also publishes The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, a tabloid that contains selected articles and features from The Washington Post edited for a national audience. Express Publications Company, LLC, another subsidiary of the Company, publishes a weekday tabloid newspaper named Express, which is distributed free of charge using hawkers and news boxes near Metro stations and in other locations in Washington, D.C. and nearby suburbs with heavy daytime sidewalk traffic.
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Company, LLC (WPNI) develops news and information products for electronic distribution. It produces washingtonpost.com, an Internet site that features the full editorial text of The Washington Post and most of The Post's classified advertising, as well as original content created by WPNI's staff and content obtained from other sources. WPNI also produces the Newsweek website and contains editorial content from the print edition of Newsweek, as well as daily news updates and analysis, photo galleries, Web guides and other features. In June 2005, WPNI assumed responsibility for the production of the Budget Travel magazine Website and relaunched it as BudgetTravelOnline.com. This site contains editorial content from Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine and other sources. On January 14, 2005, WPNI purchased Slate, which features articles analyzing news, politics and contemporary culture, and adds new material on a daily basis.
The Community Newspaper Division of Post-Newsweek Media, Inc. publishes two weekly paid-circulation, three twice-weekly, paid-circulation and 35 controlled-circulation weekly community newspapers. This division's newspapers are divided into two groups: The Gazette Newspapers, which circulate in Montgomery, Prince George's and Frederick Counties and in parts of Carroll County, Maryland, and Southern Maryland Newspapers, which circulate in southern Prince George's County and in Charles, St. Mary's and Calvert Counties, Maryland.
The Washington Post Company owns The Daily Herald Company, publisher of The Herald. The Herald is published mornings seven days a week and is primarily distributed by home delivery in Snohomish County. The Daily Herald Company also provides commercial printing services and publishes four controlled-circulation weekly community newspapers that are distributed in south Snohomish and north King Counties.
The Company's Greater Washington Publishing, Inc. subsidiary publishes several free-circulation advertising periodicals that have little or no editorial content and are distributed in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area using sidewalk distribution boxes. Greater Washington Publishing's two largest periodicals are The Washington Post Apartment Showcase and New Homes Guide. The Washington Post Company has acquired El Tiempo Latino LLC, the publisher of El Tiempo Latino, a weekly Spanish-language newspaper that is distributed free of charge in northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and Washington, D.C. using sidewalk news boxes and retail locations that provide space for distribution. El Tiempo Latino provides a mix of local, national and international news along with sports and community-events coverage.
Television Broadcasting
Through subsidiaries, the Company owns six VHF television stations located in Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Miami, Florida; Orlando, Florida; San Antonio, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida. Five of The Washington Post Company's television stations are affiliated with one or another of the national networks. The Company's Jacksonville station, WJXT, operates as an independent station.
Magazine Publishing
Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published both domestically and internationally by Newsweek, Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. In gathering, reporting and writing news and other material for publication, Newsweek maintains news bureaus in eight United States and 11 foreign cities. The domestic edition of Newsweek includes more than 100 different geographic or demographic editions, which carry substantially identical news and feature material but enable advertisers to direct messages to specific market areas or demographic groups. Internationally, Newsweek is published in a Europe, Middle East and Africa edition; an Asia edition covering Japan, Korea and south Asia, and a Latin American edition; all of which are in the English language.
The PostNewsweek Tech Media division of Post-Newsweek Media, Inc. publishes controlled-circulation trade periodicals and produces trade shows, conferences and online information services for the government information technology industry. PostNewsweek Tech Media publishes Government Computer News, a news magazine published 34 times per year serving government managers who buy information technology products and services; Washington Technology, a twice-monthly magazine of market news and analysis for government information technology systems integrators, and Government Leader, a magazine published six times a year serving government technology, finance, human resources and procurement managers.
Cable Television Operations
As of January 1, 2006, the Company (through its Cable One subsidiary) provided cable service to approximately 689,200 basic video subscribers and had in force approximately 214,400 subscriptions to digital video service and 234, 100 subscriptions to cable modem service. Digital video and cable modem services are each available in markets serving all of Cable One's subscriber base. Among the digital video services offered by Cable One is the delivery of certain premium, cable network and local over-the-air channels in high-definition television (HDTV). The Washington Post Company's cable systems are located in 19 midwestern, southern and western states and typically serve smaller communities. The two largest clusters of systems (which each serve more than 70,000 basic video subscribers) are located on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and in the Boise, Idaho area.
Education
Kaplan provides a range of educational services for children, students and professionals. The Company divides Kaplan's various businesses into two categories: supplemental education, which consists of the Test Preparation and Admissions Division, the Professional Division, Score! Educational Centers and FTC Kaplan Limited (formerly known as The Financial Training Company), and higher education, which consists of Kaplan's Higher Education Division and several companies that provide higher education services outside the United States.
Through its Test Preparation and Admissions Division, Kaplan prepares students for a range of admissions and licensing examinations. During fiscal 2005, the Test Preparation and Admissions Division provided courses to over 280,000 students (including over 80,000 enrolled in online programs) and provided courses at 161 permanent centers located throughout the United States and in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, London and Paris. The Test Preparation and Admissions Division also is the co-publisher with Simon & Schuster of 187 book titles, predominantly in the areas of test preparation, admissions and career guidance, and develops educational software for the K-12, graduate and English-as-a-second-language markets, which is sold through an arrangement with a third party that is responsible for production and distribution. This division also produces a college newsstand guide in conjunction with Newsweek. The Kidum Group, which is included in Kaplan's Test Preparation and Admissions division, was acquired in fiscal 2005. The Kidum Group is a provider of test preparation and English-as-a-second-language courses in Israel. During fiscal 2005, the Kidum Group provided courses to over 40,000 students at 49 permanent centers located throughout Israel.
Kaplan's Professional Division offers continuing education, certification, licensing, exam preparation and professional development to corporations and to individuals seeking to advance their careers in a variety of disciplines. This division includes Kaplan Financial (formerly known as Dearborn Financial Services), a provider of continuing education and test preparation courses for financial services and insurance industry professionals; Dearborn Publishing, publisher of a variety of business and real estate books; The Schweser Study Program, a provider of test preparation courses for the Chartered Financial Analyst and Financial Risk Manager examinations; Kaplan CPA, which offers test preparation courses for the Certified Public Accounting Exam; Kaplan Professional Schools, a provider of courses for real estate, financial services and home inspection licensing examinations; Perfect Access Speer, a provider of software consulting and software training products, primarily to the legal profession, and Kaplan IT, which offers online test preparation courses for technical certifications in the information technology industry.
Other Activities
The Washington Post Company owns 49% of Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited. Bowater Mersey owns and operates a newsprint mill near Halifax, Nova Scotia, and also owns woodlands that provide part of the mill's wood requirements. The Company beneficially owns a 49.4% equity interest in BrassRing LLC, an Internet-based hiring management company.
The Washington Post Company competes with The Washington Times, Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Journal Newspapers, The Potomac, Bethesda/ Chevy Chase Almanacs, The Western Montgomery Bulletin, The Bowie Blade-News, The West County News, The Laurel Leader, The Montgomery Sentinel, The Prince George's Sentinel, The Frederick News-Post, Carroll County Times, Calvert County Independent and St. Mary's Today. Źródło: http://www.investor.reuters.com/business/BusCompanyFullDesc.aspx?ticker=WPO&symbol=WPO&target=%2fbusiness%2fbuscompany%2fbuscompfake%2fbuscompdescr
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