I'm still trying to work out if people buying newspapers was ever part of their core business model. I'm pretty sure they made a loss on sales but got the money

I'm still trying to work out if people buying newspapers was ever part of their core business model. I'm pretty sure they made a loss on sales but got the money back on advertising. If that is the case then they're just bug losers since advertising revenue has dive-bombed and created an unsustainable business.