At last after a depressing week a success story

The New York Times reports from Norway where a publisher finds that it is thriving on the web.

Schibsted, an Oslo newspaper publisher does things differently on the Internet.

At a time when other newspaper companies lament a loss of readers and advertisers, Schibsted is thriving. Its earnings rose 28 percent in the fourth quarter. Online operations will generate about 20 percent of the company’s revenue this year, according to analysts at Kaupthing, a bank based in Reykjavik, Iceland, even as many other big newspaper publishers struggle to reach the 10 percent mark

and the key to its success persistence

In 1995, Schibsted started investing heavily in new media, and it stuck with those commitments in 2000 and 2001, when some other publishers turned skeptical. In recent years, the investments have started to pay off, and Schibsted is now the biggest player on the Internet in Norway and neighboring Sweden. It has also expanded aggressively into new markets like France and Spain, starting free newspapers under the name 20 Minutes and acquiring classified advertising businesses that it is moving onto the Internet.

HT-Martin Stabe