Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has seen profits for the first quarter fall by 81%.

The publisher, which has been badly hit by a severe drop in advertising revenues, also announced that it is laying off 202 workers, about 2% of its work force.

It had previously indicated that it would cut jobs and that its profits would fall short of expectations.

On Thursday it reported profits of $14.7m, excluding restructuring charges, compared to $79.2m a year before.

The company's revenues dropped by 17% to $459.9m from $550.8m last year.

"As we had indicated previously, our advertising-supported businesses experienced a significant slowdown in the first quarter of 2001 against the exceptional gains last year," said Peter R. Kann, chairman and chief executive.

He added that the company had now moved aggressively to cut costs and adjust to the new economic environment.

Below forecasts

The company warned last month that its profits would be about 70% below analyst forecasts.

Revenues from the Dow Jones' print business, including Wall Street Journal and Barron's Magazine, declined by 24% for the quarter.

Dow Jones' electronic publishing business, which includes Dow Jones newswires and WSJ.com, saw revenues rise 3%.

The job cuts were part of a total cost-cutting programme to save $60 million. The company employs 8,000 people altogether.

In addition, Dow Jones publishes numerous stock market indicators.