Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday | Jan. 30 | Your News & Comments
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112 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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When I was a business reporter, I didn't like writing earnings stories. As an editor, i didn't like editing them, either. And yet, here I am again . . .
ReplyDeleteYou do what you gotta do sometimes, I guess.
ReplyDelete(Verification word: "oveness." Is that a woman who uses an oven?)
Got my postcard in Thursday's mail! It's symbolic to me of an unprecedented effort to take away the corporate veil and reveal truths about Gannett. I used to wonder why we were doing stupid things and the only answer was, "Because Gannett said so."
ReplyDeleteSaving my pennies for the next donation.
Gannett stock will drop and it will drop hard. They need to really get rid of the good old boys club as it will not carry them anymore the have lost the good and carry the bad. I will be checking the news out in the morning to see what is happening. It is not going to be good.
ReplyDeleteThe C-J has lost the contract to print LEO Weekly, the real alt weekly. We in pressroom found out by reading letter from LEO editor in the paper we printed Tuesday evening.
ReplyDeleteI refer you to Jim's article of Oct 1, Major press printing woes in Louisville. This was predicted.
I have not yet received my W-2 from Gannett and I'm wondering what's up. This is one year I really want to file my taxes and get my money back. Anybody else with the same problem?
ReplyDelete1/30/2009 2:24 AM
ReplyDeleteYou never know, it may not, NYT didn't, it had a small gain after their bad news, the market is excepted to be up today, looking at futures on CNN Money this morning.
The raise's this year are 1.5% at Asbury
ReplyDeleteThe raise's this year are 1.5% at Asbury
ReplyDeleteThe new raise's this year at Asbury are 1.5%
ReplyDeleteIf a newspaper's revenues are derived largely from advertising dollars, and advertisers don't have those dollars due to their own plight, then no matter what, revenues are going to drop.
ReplyDeleteSo what'a a company to do?
What do I do when I don't have any money to spare? I don't buy anything.
Therefore, I am confused that Gannett continues to make acquisitions when its says it doesn't have the money to pay the salaries of the people who are supplying the information and services to keep this MEDIA/INFORMATION company afloat.
Conclusion: The board and executives who run Gannett have got to go. But who's going to fire them?
Bloomberg:
ReplyDeleteNet income declined to $158 million, or 69 cents a share, from $245.3 million, or $1.06 a share, a year earlier, Gannett said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was 85 cents a share, compared with the 84-cent average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Revenue fell to $1.74 billion.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Gannett Co. is reporting lower preliminary fourth-quarter earnings, and says it expects to take writedowns of as much as $5.9 billion to reflect the declining value of its newspapers.
ReplyDeleteLet's get a movement going:
ReplyDeleteGannett workers represented on the Board of Directors. Drum up support among co-workers and let's see if some of the bigger stockholders will back us.
ClarkKentGannett@aol.com
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, said fourth-quarter profit fell 36 percent on faltering advertising sales and expenses to cut jobs.
ReplyDeleteNet income declined to $158 million, or 69 cents a share, from $245.3 million, or $1.06, a year earlier, Gannett said today in a statement.
Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI: News ) reported fourth-quarter net income of $157.97 million or $0.69 per share, compared to $245.31 million or $1.06 per share last year.
ReplyDeleteOuch. Stock is down to $6.36.
Boy, those layoffs sure helped.
On a personal note, I'm enjoying watching my former employer circle the drain.
I agree Jim. Stories are usually dry.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to determine the Real Life/Real News impact of an earnings story.
But, remember, to get those 2 diverse voices into that story anyway. And layer it with a breakout box or two.
Boy, I don't miss working for those morons.
Another stark reminder of just what lies ahead as we progress into 2009. While these revenue numbers released this morning continue to show an ominous trend, the numbers that'll be released about 3 months from today showing the first quarter revenue for Jan-Mar. should be staggering. Furloughs happening now will turn into layoffs again come May.
ReplyDeleteAs a broadcast employee for Gannett for over 10 years, no matter where you are in the fold, your job could easily be next. Believe me I know, my pink slip has already been given to me, as my "three year contract" has turned into a one year contract because of the station option where they exercise the 60 days notice clause before going into the next year of the contract. So much for job security when I signed the deal, thinking I at least could get through my actual contract term. Thus, my days at Gannett are soon to be gone.
While Gannett seems to be sending away more of it's older employees, young ones are going away too. At our station alone, buyouts, layoffs, and contract non-renewals have reached across the board in the age brackets.
Of course, only a couple of low level managers have been shown the door. Too bad the real dead-weight managers haven't been given their pink slips.
From a local perspective and by that I mean just at our station, inept management can easily be attributed to 25% of our stations' revenue shortcomings. Besides being over-compensated themselves for their work, ( or lack thereof ) their day in and day out decisions have stripped the station of plenty of cash.
I can't help but shake my head over the total demise of the newsroom, production operations, and technical staff where managers bumbling ineptness has only compounded the problems caused by the bad economy.
For the size of the station we are, it's almost unfathomable to watch how this station as derailed.
Amtrack hasn't had a derailment of this proportion.
Yes, the economy is certainly at the heart of the storm at all the Gannett operations, but one can't help but wonder just how much better shape each individual operation would be in today if only people who were skilled at running these operations had been in place to begin with.
From corporate down to all the local stations and newspapers, too many bumblers have indeed sank the ship.
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Gannett Co.
ReplyDeleteChief Financial Officer Gracia Martore said Friday that the company's board will again examine its quarterly dividend when it meets next month to determine whether it should be reduced or suspended as the global economic meltdown drags on.
I got my thank you postcard in the mail Thursday. Thanks, Jim!
ReplyDeleteAnd about the W2s; Gannett seems to send them out later every year. For several years we've had all the paperwork needed to file taxes, except for the W2 from Gannett. My spouse doesn't even bother to ask about it any more. Maybe it'll show up next week.
There was an interesting article I read in the NYT recently about newspapers needing to become funded by various endowments. In order to survive and do meaningful journalism, which is the backbone of a free society, newspapers need a new model. They can't be beholden to advertisers or stockholders anymore. For investigative and watchdog journalism to occur, newspapers need to be taken away from companies like Gannett and funded much the way the arts are.
ReplyDeleteThe article began with a quote from Thomas Jefferson who said he'd rather live in a society with newspapers and no government rather than a government with no newspapers. The article also went on to say that the web is not a suitable replacement for newspapers because the web is full of inaccuracies and bias. The culture and values of newspapers is not spilling over onto the web, particularly with this new wave of "journalists" who paid more attention to HTML than to libel laws back in J school. Just look at USA TODAY's web site. Filled with mistakes and gimmicky crap. Material goes right online with very little fact checking, editing or sound news judgment. It's all about hits. And that just won't cut it in a democracy that relies on a free, fair and meaningful press.
Companies like Gannett are part of the problem and the trickle down effect will profoundly impact not only newspaper careers and the economy, but the very principles this country was founded on. It's time for newspapers to find a new way to survive that doesn't involve media corporations or digital entertainment.
Jim, I agree with you on earnings stories. I read this press release, and what hit me were two things:
ReplyDelete1. GCI is going to write down its losses, but doesn't know by how much. It will total between $5.1 billion to $5.9 billion, resulting in a reduction in profits of from $4.5 billion to $5.2 billion. There is no reason why GCI could not have done this now, instead of waiting for unexplained reason. I think the reason is that if they had included that, Dubow would have reported a truly humongous loss.
2. The results were inline with what I expected, but I am gloomy.
3. The digital revenues were dismal.
11:02 But you see from the report GCI released today that TV revenues remained flat. A lot else was down, and really down, but TV didn't do badly. So they cut the TV, abandon the news operations, and turn the nightly news report into advertorials, and they believe that this isn't going to really hurt revenues? Wow.
ReplyDeleteThe 10 percent drop in the stock shows that analysts were not fooled by this rosy report. I think what got the attention of Wall Street analysts was that item about writing off almost $6 billion of losses.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with nearly 20 years with Gannett is that the w-2 comes out at the very end of the month or beginning of february, basically the latest they can be sent out legally I think. Not sure why they're like that, but it's been that way as long as i recall.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard about broadcasters facing layoffs? 9 News in Colorado announced this morning that 3 broadcasters were leaving, were they let go?
ReplyDeleteNever fear, everyone! Gannett is about to RIP ONE! It's going to be loud, and it's going to clear the room!
ReplyDeleteRegarding W-2s, Lansing and Port Huron were informed today that they were mailed out on Wednesday by the vendor the company uses, who is in Minnesota. We should have them within a few days.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the graph of the GCI stock price this morning after the announcement, the only thought I had was "PULL UP!" Even experienced skiers would not want to try that steep downhill slope
Matore confirmed another slippery number today...that Gannett is now 4,000 FTE's lighter. Which brings the number of people who were forced out last year even higher.
ReplyDeleteThe little things have finally caught up with Gannett. It's not all the economy's fault. Papers like USA Today are still making a profit. The little things are what have led to this company crumbling. It's not so much the CEOs and publishers and such. It's the MEs who protect incompetent staffers. It's hiring based purely on skin color and ethnicity. It's lack of respect between staffers or between departments. It's turf battles, big and small. It's so much red tape and back biting that just getting photo captioned takes three people (particularly at USAT). It's lack of accountability. How can a staffer get a paper sued because of some careless error, yet still be employed and even lauded for less than laudable efforts? It's office politics and favoritism. It's who has lunch with who that matter more than who can get the job done. Popularity trumps ethics. It's years of silencing the worker ants. It's naively believing that a Gallup survey can solve all problems within the newsroom. It's kicking out those with the most institutional knowledge and know how in favor of the flavor of the day. It's top editors who need their egos stroke and can't see through basic lies and deception. It's forcing some to work OT without pay while compensating others well beyond the OT they worked. It's allowing some people to take unlimited sick time while others are held to the letter of the law. Sticking one's head in the sand or backstabbing employees are not good traits in managers. Yet, there is abundance of that within Gannett.
ReplyDeleteSo when folks want to talk about the economy or this CEO or that executive, I say that the little things have played at least an equal role in the demise of Gannett and the lack of vision to pull us out of this mess. I am all for laying the ultimate blame at the top, but let's not ignore the little dysfunctional things that have led to so much decay in spirits and in the quality of the product. Popcorn and baby pictures were not enough to get USAT back on track. It's time the newspaper, and the company as a whole, starts taking things more seriously, and if there has to be more cuts, gosh, let's hope the right people are laid off, bought out or whatever this time around. We can't afford to lose more talented people with good work habits!
11:25 AM - Regarding why W-2s always come out at the end of Jan... Many, many years ago somehow (a bug, a mistake?) everyone at my site received incorrect W-2s. It wasn't until 1-2 weeks after someone noticed. Some employees had already filed. Since then, we get them late to allow finance/HR to double check them.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this happened Gannett wide, or just at my site.
I'm a business owner residing in the East. After an extensive discussion this morning with an ex-parter (which by the way was heated) he made me aware of your website. I will not affiliate myself with a company practicing business in this manner. My suggestion is as follows,
ReplyDeleteYou're respected journalists? Take a big step. 60 Minutes.
Damn! Someone talked about Dubow and the Gannett Fountain... The Dickey golfing trip.
ReplyDelete"No merit to the complaint whatsoever."
ReplyDeleteHA! What a fucking punk! This $7 million-plus asshole couldn't even say, "I'm sorry for any misunderstanding and will reimburse the foundation in full for the donation." What a morally bankrupt son of a bitch, and what a pathetic set of management.
Re W2s, they're required by federal law to get them to us by the end of January. I had to send one to a babysitter I used when my daughter was little. The deadline was clear.
ReplyDeleteJust got through rolling over my 401(k) and I have to say that Hewitt was far less than helpful.
ReplyDeleteThey told me things that were in direct contradiction to what the plan administrator said.
If there are any questions about your 401(k) contact the adminstrator, as suggested in the plan booklet:
401(k) Plan Administrator
Corporate Benefits Department
Gannett Co., Inc.
7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22107
Telephone: 703.854.6000
A PDF file of the plan booklet can be found (if you look really hard) at the YBR site.
If you have a loan out on the account, ask about the consequences of the rollover. Then ask about exemptions to the penalties regarding how the loan was used (like for education) and see what Hewitt says.
12:16 p.m. I agree with a lot your assessment about the little things. But I'm fed up with small minded folks weaving in their racists views. People of color, Hispanics, Asians, etc. are underrepresented at Gannett and in the media generally. Check ur facts. So, maybe the hiring "purely on skin color and ethnicity" has led to bringing in too many incompetent, lazy and finger-pointing white workers, esp. white males who are over represented in media.
ReplyDeleteStop the blame game. It's stupid. No one employee is responsible for Gannett going down the rat's hole. The problem, as you correctly nailed, starts in management. The decisions they've made over the years made the especially vulnerable in bad times. I fear more good/talented people of all skin types & ethnicity will be thrown overboard. that's a damn shame, especially for the overly targeted middle-aged workers who have put so much of their lives/talents into this company. they didn't get a thank you, they got a pink slip.
I wish I could connect to the webcast of Dubow & Co. I'm on furlough & can't make the connection. I guess it only works on company computers. Please Jim, keep us on furlough informed on this meeting.
ReplyDeleteWas it just me or did the audio cast last 30 minutes? Thought it was from 1 EST to 2 EST?
ReplyDelete34 minutes to be exact
ReplyDeleteAs I've said before, GANNETT'S Long-Term Value = (to quote Dean Wormer) ZERO-POINT-ZERO.
ReplyDeleteAdvice from Dean Wormer to Craig & Gracia:
"Fat, Drunk & Stupid is no way to go through life."
I guess it shows how us worker drones rate if the boss can't even give us a full hour to answer the questions, especially since we are the ones giving up five days pay this quarter.
ReplyDeleteAnd of all the questions to answer, who really cares what he thinks about the teams in the Super Bowl. Just a waste of what little time he gave.
Execs who were paid big bucks to think and anticipate and plan have failed shareholders and employees miserably. When is the board going to stop the runaway train.
ReplyDeleteStock ticker is showing yahoo stock as of 5/11/2007?
ReplyDelete11:02:
ReplyDeleteBroadcast revenues were flat in the last quarter even with kajillions of dollars spent on election ads in October and early November. There was no such advertising in 2007's last quarter. Flat isn't good.
At least he confirmed another furlough is likely. I just wish he would have said if its 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarter so we can prepare for it now rather than get it dropped on it like happened in 1st.
ReplyDelete1:22 PM wrote: "Re W2s, they're required by federal law to get them to us by the end of January."
ReplyDeleteI believe they're legally required to MAIL them by the end of January - so we'll receive them next week, I should think.
Geez, GCI stock is really starting to plummet now.
ReplyDeletelet the stock tank today..then rebound Monday when we can sell todays' 401K match.
ReplyDelete"who really cares what he thinks about the teams in the Super Bowl."
ReplyDeleteWho'd he pick? I want to be sure to place a bet on the other team.
GCI:USA
ReplyDeleteListed by Bloomberg as one of today's stocks on the move, meaning higher trading volume than usual
$5.89 at 3:05 p.m. EST
Did Craig get a bonus for 2008? Or, when is he expected to get it if so.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Goodwill.
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding, Goodwill is a balance sheet item (asset) that has no impact on profits.
By lowering Goodwill, the effect is a lowering of equity of the company on the liabilities side of the balance sheet.
In essence, the company is now worth less which can have an impact on its ability to borrow money.
http://www.investorwords.com/2212/goodwill.html
ReplyDeleteDidn't they already lower the company's credit rating a few months back?
With the information centers and all the talk about platform agnostic, why don't they just do reporting for one big news organization instead of print, digital etc.? Isn't all this stuff supposed to complement each other?
ReplyDeletehttp://southcarolina1670.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteFrom Nov. 11, 2008
ReplyDeleteSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Standard & Poor's said Tuesday it cut the long-term corporate credit rating and senior unsecured debt rating on Gannett Co. to BBB- from BBB+. S&P also lowered the short-term rating on the company to A-3 from A-2.
From Wikipedia:
Anything lower than a BBB rating is considered a speculative or junk bond.
On a brighter note:
ReplyDeleteAmy Corr, writing for Section Three MediaPost.com ...
"I've watched the Monster.com ad, created by BBDO New York. I can't post or talk about it, however; but I will say this: I thought it was funny, but in the Super Bowl ad battle between online job sites, I think Careerbuilder.com wins."
as of 3:35 GCI stock at $5.80 down a $1.10. how does a CEO hold his job with these results under his watch??
ReplyDelete"With the information centers and all the talk about platform agnostic, why don't they just do reporting for one big news organization instead of print, digital etc.? Isn't all this stuff supposed to complement each other?"
ReplyDeleteSure, but the in-house systems are still are a primordial stew of half baked systems pieced together with chewing gum and bailing wire. You can't backwards publish to them with a singular methodology. Hence they're kinda "stuck" in PAP "Platform Agnostic Pergatory".
Today's GCI volume is over 10 million shares or twice the normal day's average. Who knows how much short selling is gloing on.
ReplyDelete$5.76/share ---and still falling like a bolder. I would get the hell out of this pig before it implodes !!!
ReplyDeleteThis put you well over 1,000,000 today.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jim! For making the comments real time.
ReplyDeleteTo borrow a football-related phrase: "Turn out the lights, the party's over . . ."
ReplyDeleteGCI=toast
You can't fool Wall Street with these lies. A 17 percent drop in the stock after this report should send shivers through the Crystal Palace, and a recognition that their business plan doesn't work and won't work. Watch for something new, real soon, and a very angry and hostile board of director's meeting in February.
ReplyDeleteOMG...16+ million shares traded today or 3x the average day. Some traders reportedly had trouble placing short sale orders.
ReplyDeleteWhen the last surving Gannett employee leaves please turn out the lights..If they havn't been turned off already
ReplyDeleteRe: W-2s we're mailed the day before yesterday. You should have them day now.
ReplyDeleteI "received" my W-2 today. Except when I opened the envelope, there was nothing in it. Anyone else have this problem?
ReplyDeleteGCI must have hired Bernie Madoff's accountant to file this 4th quarter statement. There is no reason on earth any accountant worth his salt would not have written off that goodwill right now. Is the value of Gannett properties going up somewhere? No, they have all been going down like a rock, and GCI needs to account for that just like every other company in this country. If GCI ever needs another line of credit, it is going to find it impossible with this sort of accountancy paper-washing. I would refer this to the Securities and Exchange Commission, but they are hopeless enforcing existing rules and the law.
ReplyDelete$40,000 to a North Carolina University...
ReplyDeleteA company-paid week long celebrity golf outing...
$5.9 billion dollar charge and a $5.77 price per share...
PRICELESS
Any thought given yet to liquidating Crystal Palace furnishings, etc.?
ReplyDeleteDubow and Martore should go. This is getting ridiculous now. I think we need to get the email addresses of all board members and start sending them letters. Sort of like writing our Congressman.
ReplyDeleteShit, we all write for a living. Let's save this company ourselves, since these numb-nuts can't do shit.
Rumors just heard from a very senior manager...
ReplyDelete1. Another furlough will come
2. Dividend will be cut
and here is the kicker...
3. 5,000 more people going to be terminated
All the executives are working on their organizational plans.
Is This How It Ends for Newspapers?
ReplyDeleteTim Beyers (Motley Fool)
January 30, 2009
Your next local beat reporter might be an algorithm.
This week, General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC unit said it had built 650 neighborhood news sites using technology from a social media start-up called Outside.in. Algorithms scan content from blogs, Twitter, and elsewhere on the Web and then tag findings with GPS data to create a news feed that's tailored for where you are at any given moment, right down to the street corner.
Nine markets will host the service initially, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. And that's likely to be troubling for ink-stained old media such as New York Times (NYSE: NYT) and McClatchy (NYSE: MNI), and local news specialists such as Lee Enterprises, says Outside.in CEO Mark Josephson.
"Their valuations are incredibly low and it's because they're moving in the wrong direction, in terms of strategy," Josephson said in an interview earlier this week.
The rise of the curators
So what's the right direction? "I talk with a lot of newspapers and they know that they need to get more local," Josephson said. He's talking about news breaking hundreds of feet away from you, in your neighborhood.
I can see the merit to that. But is sourcing via blogs and social media really a good idea? Sure. Twitter is a terrific tool and could even become a crude wire service. And user-generated content makes news all the time. NBC's first shots of the recent "Miracle on the Hudson," in which a pilot safely guided a US Airways jet to an emergency water landing off of Manhattan, were supplied by a viewer, said Brian Buchwald, NBC's senior vice president of local integrated media, in a recent interview.
Outside.in's emergence comes at an interesting time. Earlier today, Gannett (NYSE: GCI) said that fourth-quarter profit fell 36% on lower ad revenue. And those results could include as much as $5.2 billion in asset writedowns. New York Times Co. Wednesday said that earnings fell 48% during Q4. (Though, ironically, that beat analyst estimates.)
Josephson is quick to point out that his firm is partnering with newspapers. He believes they can use technology to improve profits but, as a writer and former reporter, I find his plan chilling. Josephson envisions papers keeping a skeleton staff of, say, three to be feed "curators," as he calls them, because Outside.in aggregates by locale rather importance. Adding a human element would insure that the most important hyperlocal news led each feed.
(Shivers.)
I can't argue with the logic, though. We know from The Huffington Post that content aggregation works. And we know from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) that real-time, hyper-targeted advertising works. Outside.in is poised to provide both.
Prepare yourself, Fool. The local media revolution will be automated!!!!!
Can the pathetic corporate suck-up who submitted the "Who you got in the Super Bowl?" question to Dubow be identified, taken out into the square and publicly flogged, please? I don't know what made me angrier, that someone actually submitted that or that it was chosen while the CEO was only answering a handful of questions for about a half-hour.
ReplyDelete5:17 Board Members firms are on GANNETT site; get contact info there.
ReplyDeleteMore Important: FIND 50 LARGEST SHAREHOLDERS. They Elect the Board.
Grab the Board Members by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow.
What I find amusing is how Gannett can report on Bank's,auto maker's and other large companies with there perk's and the wasting of money on bonus',jet's,outings etc. in an economy like this. But then as a company they are doing the same thing as the people they are putting in a bad light
ReplyDeleteSo where has our SPELLING BEE champ been lately
ReplyDeleteThe superbowel question was asked because of it's convience. Gannett lacks any integrity. Shame he can't be thrown out like that bum in IL.
ReplyDeleteBelo today announced that it considered, and ultimately rejected employee furloughs, instead opting to lay off 500 employees. The Gannett furloughs look a lot more humane to this former reporter (Newhouse)that what Belo did.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking when I heard of the current write down and thought that they would eliminate about twice as many people as they did in the last round. Although, they aren't going to be left with many folks if they keep hacking away at staff in such a quick manner. 5,000 seems like a conservative number. I thought they'd probably go for 7,500 - 10,000 in the next round. I'm serious about that number, too. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteAnd, anyone left behind should get used to the word "furlough"; I have a feeling that they are going to use it as an opportunity to save on payroll despite the number of people they lay off.
I think DuBow and Martore will only get the boot if enough of the large stockholders complain. To that end, I'm sure that the directors are already hearing from a lot of the big institutional ones.
Of course, firing DuBow and his circus of clowns won't change anything. Gannett has a fundamental problem in its management ranks. Until that flaw is fixed, the problem will fester regardless of who is at the helm of this ship.
Here is the link to the transcript from Seeking Alpha:
ReplyDeletehttp://seekingalpha.com/article/117736-gannett-co-inc-q4-2008-earnings-call-transcript
The furloughs won't do the trick. I believe that it was suspected late in the fourth quarter that Gannett was planning on cuts "in the mid single teens." Didn't Gracia say something like that somewhere? If that is the case, the furloughs would only eliminate the layoff need by about 2 percent. So if they had been planning on a 16 percent staff reduction, now it will just be a 14 percent reduction. 14 percent of 35000 is 5000.
ReplyDeleteWith a larger than expected decline in revenue and that big writedown, I wouldn't put anything pass Gannett.
6:51 said more humane? I think you need to look at details. Gannett is laying off, freezing salary and furloughs.layoff's for the future continued
ReplyDeletewhat do you expect when Gannett hires uneducated people other than journalists to higher positions? Why not take a summary of education levels regarding some of the management at the papers. You will find it quite interesting. Its why managers are so aggressive because once their floor falls out they'll be washing dishes and not able to afford the cadillac.
ReplyDeleteJim Kroeze to the rescue!
ReplyDeleteBack on the brighter side we have another gem from the New Jersey group.
ReplyDeleteKicks (C-N) and Pulse (HNT) are Friday entertainment pullouts that share most of their content. This week Kicks and Pulse have a cover story about Buddy Holly ... a pop singer who died 50 years ago. To readers in their 30s and 40s that's Ancient History.
You can't make this stuff up, folks. Clueless is as clueless does.
Dubow's audiocast to Gannetteers: long, rambling answers so he could answer as few questions as possible. ("That's a good question...") Tara chimes in to comment sympathetically on the answers, killing more time. Wouldn't come right out and say another furlough is coming but made sure we understood that it is coming.
ReplyDeleteTalked about all the questions submitted, then cut the session shorter than planned. Killed time answering that Super Bowl question.
It sounded rehearsed, like the earnings call.
8:12 PM - Hell that's ancient history to this 53 year old! :)
ReplyDeleteI’m a newspaper junkie, but I think it’s misguided to blame Gannett’s management for the company’s decline. Every publicly traded newspaper company is in the same condition. If anything, Gannett is stronger than the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteWhen the auto came along, those who stuck with horses lost. The newspaper industry failed to get out ahead of the Internet. Now, running behind, they can re-imagine their internet product only in terms of their paper product. That would be like the Wright brothers trying to make their plane look like a horse and buggy. What comes out of this at the end is going to bear little resemblance to any newspaper we know today.
That is, Gannett would be sinking even if it were a solid news company that put out solid papers, ala the New York Times. This doesn’t make me happy -- it’s a sad fact that I can get through my morning paper in less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee because there is so little substantive local news. The courts are not covered; the paper cherry picks the obvious trials so as not to be upstaged by local TV stations . What passes for business coverage are pro-business articles meant to pander to advertisers. The environment is not covered, both to avoid any anti-business charges and because that would require a lot of time from a reporter with technical expertise. There are fascinating local health stories out there, but those stories are passed by word of mouth because no one has physician or hospital sources. The “editorials” are all “it does the heart good” essays that could have been written by a girl scout with a thesaurus. Thinking that developing expertise and sources is unimportant, reporters are tossed around on a regular basis. No wonder we run to local blogs to find people who know stuff and have opinions. No wonder I run to this site when I want to know what’s going on in Gannett; the paper sure isn’t covering itself.
But even if all that were fixed tomorrow, and even if Gannett were run by geniuses, its papers would be in the same difficult position as the finest newspapers in the United States. While it would be hugely satisfying to think that Gannett’s policies have finally driven the company to this brink, it ain’t so.
In the conference call, Dubow settled the issue of killing USAT's International edition. Contrary to what some commenters said at the time, Jim was correct. Here is what Dubow said:
ReplyDelete"One other note regarding USA Today; they are in the process of changing the business model for the international edition. USA Today will publish the final international edition next week. However, they are in discussions with our partners to move to a licensing model in which USA Today editorial staff will produce the content while regional partners would pay a per copy fee to print the newspaper and sell their own advertising."
In other words, the only way USAT International continues is if someone wants a print product to sell ads around.
8:54 has some valid points. If we could worry less about the stockholders and just ride out the storm - we'd be weakened but still able to perform our mission and make buckets of money.
ReplyDeleteWith the stock under $6 and rated a hair above junk status, let's go for broke, suspend the dividend for a year and use the time and treasure to reposition ourselves for a recovery.
Hey Corporate !!!
ReplyDeleteWHAT-THE-FUCK!!!!!!!
the problem the Gannett is it wants to be an internet news company, which they are not good at. and they still want to be a newspaper company, but after all the talent they have lost they are a shell of a newspaper company.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me the company wants to be heavy into market research and PR more than news.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that Gannett is doing poorly just because of the economy. I worked on an editorial product that thought of the news in a different way. It captured a niche and delivered the readers. All along, the suits were doubtful that my colleagues and I could make it work. We did. It made a good amount of money for them. We knew that once they realized it could succeed that their egos wouldn't allow us to stay around. We were right. While the publication was making scores of money, we were all marched in for meetings with the EE and laid off in December. He said he could find cheaper people to do our jobs. In reality, it was just a ruse for him to eliminate us because he didn't like the success our product was having against his traditional broadsheet. In turn, my job was given to someone less qualified, less motivated and less interested in making money for Gannett than myself. I suppose there is something to say being an EE and keeping your friends on the payroll because you like them. However, situations like mine are what is at the heart of everything wrong with Gannett today.
ReplyDelete9:56 I couldn't have said it better. It's not the economy it's gannetts way of cleaning house. now maybe we can clean their clocks! KEEP it up JIM..
ReplyDeleteIf Gannett honchos were smart, they'd hire back some of that talent they lost in December. There are lots of reasons to right some wrongs, and the company needs to start paying more attention to what exactly its cutting. Losing so many talented folks (while some horrible inept people remain for whatever reason) is just not smart business. It's time for Gannett and USAT and other properties to swallow a little pride, admit they made some mistakes and try to bring back some of the better folks they cut loose so that we can transition in a more effective manner. I've seen a horrible decline in operations in the last few months and that's not doing anyone any good. Layoffs are just that. Layoffs. It's implied that people can be hired back. So before this spirals out of control even more, I hope certain managers can find an opportunity recall some lost employees who can still perform great services. It makes sense logistically, and might even restore some faith in a company now viewed by the rank and file as totally heartless and without a legitimate plan. Morale stinks. Karma stinks. Procedural things stink. This is not the proper climate for change. Hire some targeted and talented folks back, and maybe that will provide a boost in ways that simple-minded bean counters could never imagine.
ReplyDeleteThey missed the boat when it came to the internet. They weren't interested when they should have been years ago. It's simple they didn't want to spend the money. They lose.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Why not ask the question, How often is your intranet down? They always blame in on someone else.
ReplyDeleteInsted of layoffs and furloughs why is the company not looking at getting rid of company cars and bonuses to Directors, Publishers, and other Executives.
ReplyDeleteI would never work for them again!
ReplyDelete10:25 p.m. At my site, they sure did cut some good people and left some slackers to ... pick up the slack? Don't think so. But do companies ever rehire people they laid off? Anyone out there have any info on that?
ReplyDeleteThey will not rehire you. Move on. Forget about it, and put it behind you, or it will gnaw on you.
ReplyDeleteWe've been able to rehire several people whose positions were cut. They weren't hired back to their jobs - they ended up switching sites or departments. But we've tried to make an effort to keep dependable, hard working staff employed.
ReplyDeleteAt least we make an effort on the people that were well liked and respected. Why would you make the mistake of hiring back a dick who was a pain in the ass every time you worked with him?
Bash the company (and I do ) but if you want to pick up some quick cash throw some dollars into the stock today...it will go back up 10-20 percent in the next month.
ReplyDeleteI've been on furlough, so I'm still trying to catch up with Gannett news. What's this I hear about another possible furlough?
ReplyDeleteI can take a furlough but I can't see any more lay offs.. What will we do?
ReplyDeleteThis is so depressing. Is there any positive news on the horizon?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteBack on the brighter side we have another gem from the New Jersey group.
Kicks (C-N) and Pulse (HNT) are Friday entertainment pullouts that share most of their
content. This week Kicks and Pulse have a cover story about Buddy Holly ... a pop singer who
died 50 years ago. To readers in their 30s and 40s that's Ancient History.
You can't make this stuff up, folks. Clueless is as clueless does.
1/30/2009 8:12 PM
To the 300 or so attendees who were at the Buddy Holly event I wrote about, including many
in their 20s, 30s and 40s, the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death is very relevant, not
Ancient History. Check the bands who were performing - most were in their 20s. Visit www.vvinyl.com to view videos of some of the performances.
We at Kicks and Pulse try to appeal to everyone interested in entertainment and the arts
and we feel we make informed decisions about who and what to cover. In fact, we're often the
first in the state and country to report on new artists, personalities and trends. If you have any more comments to make about our entertainment coverage, please feel free to contact me
directly at cjordan@mycentraljersey.com.