Standard & Poor's credit rating agency Monday lowered its Washington Post Co. ratings outlook from "stable" to "negative," pointing out concerns over continued downturns in circulation and ad revenue in newspaper and magazine divisions, the Washington Post reported.

Though rating the Post Co.'s long-term debt as A1, Moody's also downgraded the company's ratings outlook from stable to negative.

Washington Post Co. stock closed down 8 percent at US$322.41 Monday. Its 52-week high was $880, according to the Washington Post.

The company reported its first operating loss in the second quarter since being publicly traded in 1971, partly due to the expense of early-retirement buyouts for 231 employees, Washington Post reported. Third-quarter earnings will be released Friday.

Besides its flagship title, the Post Co. owns Kaplan education company, which contributes half of the company's revenue. It also owns Cable One cable company, seven television stations, Newsweek and Slate magazines and a number of smaller publications.

“The negative outlook reflects our moderately weakened view of the company's business diversity, given the expectation that the economy and secular pressures will likely require the Washington Post to absorb losses in the newspaper and magazine publication division,” the S&P report stated.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations Monday, circulation of The Post's Monday through Saturday editions dropped 1.9 percent for the six months ending Sept. 30. compared to a 4.6 percent average drop among more than 500 papers surveyed across the country, the Washinton Post reported.

"We are very pleased that we were able to maintain our print audience in 2008 in this fragmented media environment, despite raising our prices from 35 cents to 50 cents earlier this year. Although we lost some paid circulation from copies sold via newsstand and boxes due to our price increase, the audience we deliver for advertisers each day is unchanged from last year," President Stephen P. Hills said in a statement.