Shareholders Day
November 15, 2002
Following are transcripts of the presentations made at The Washington Post Company's Shareholders Day on November 15, 2002. The transcripts have been edited and contain clarifications.
The presentations at this Shareholders Day meeting contain certain forward-looking statements that are based largely on the Company's current expectations. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. For more information about these forward-looking statements and related risks, please link to Risk Factors under Shareholder Information on this website and refer to the section titled "Forward-looking Statements" in Part I of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.
INTRODUCTION OF JONATHAN GRAYER
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Kaplan, Inc.
MR. GRAHAM: Finally, you'll hear from Jonathan Grayer. Alan Spoon, the former president of The Washington Post Company, and I often talk about a breakfast we had together in 1994.
The third of three executives we had hired to manage Kaplan had left for another job. Kaplan was losing $4 million a year. Its market share performance wasn't great. It was hampered by fractious contractor relations and extremely aggressive competition.
Alan and I faced up to the obvious alternatives, which included shutting Kaplan down or selling it for the small amount of money it would have brought. Neither of us had the heart for another national search for a CEO. And the only person inside the place who seemed to make any sense was 28 years old.
Gulping, we decided to offer Jonathan Grayer the chance to run the company. Alan had hired him as a summer intern on the corporate staff only five years earlier. Alan then lured him back to become marketing manager at Newsweek and then moved him to Kaplan in 1991.
Putting Jonathan in charge and letting him develop the brilliant management
team that has been at Kaplan ever since was the foundation of Kaplan's
progress. Jonathan will outline the array of businesses that make up Kaplan
today and describe what we think our outlook is.
# # #
