[CEO smackdown: Post's Graham, Scripps' Lowe, Gannett's Dubow]In one painful plunge, Gannett's rank among newspaper publishers has fallen two places, based on market value -- to No. 4, as Wall Street continues to punish the company's stock. Shares sank to a new 52-week low moments ago, closing at $29.42, down 1.9%. That sent Gannett's market value skittering, making the company more vulnerable to a forced sale.
Disclaimers: GCI still retains its No. 1 newspaper publisher title, based on annual newspaper revenue. Plus, rankings could shift again tomorrow. That said, the new rankings and market values, according to Google Finance -- and what they mean:
1. News Corp., $58 billion. Rupert Murdoch's growing empire now commands media properties, including Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., Fox News and social network MySpace. Murdoch (left) aims to go after political and popular culture coverage with an expanded WSJ, threatening The New York Times and Gannett's flagship, USA Today.
2. Washington Post Co., $6.92 billion. Its rise to No. 2 has as much to do with the company's smart investment in education testing company Kaplan. That division has cushioned Post stockholders against industry-wide newspaper troubles.
3. E.W. Scripps, $6.91 billion. Credit the company's cable TV operations, including the Food Network, and a decision by management to divide the company into faster-growing and slower-growing properties -- a move Gannett has so far resisted.
2. Washington Post Co., $6.92 billion. Its rise to No. 2 has as much to do with the company's smart investment in education testing company Kaplan. That division has cushioned Post stockholders against industry-wide newspaper troubles.
3. E.W. Scripps, $6.91 billion. Credit the company's cable TV operations, including the Food Network, and a decision by management to divide the company into faster-growing and slower-growing properties -- a move Gannett has so far resisted.
4. Gannett, $6.76 billion. The 102-year-old company has -- well, it has a strategic plan.
Confidential to the nurses caring for Gannett's board of directors: Time to turn 'em over; they're about to get bedsores from sleeping in one position so long!
[Photos, top: Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham, E.W. Scripps CEO Kenneth Lowe, and GCI CEO Craig Dubow]
[Photos, top: Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham, E.W. Scripps CEO Kenneth Lowe, and GCI CEO Craig Dubow]
The Gannett Blog has become the typical out of touch newspaper site. Companies across the globe are making much bigger job cuts,outsourcing and consolidation than the Gannett company. Wake up and smell the 21st century. What started out as a blog that had some insight and balance about the good and bad of running a newspaper company has turned into a sad state of out of touch complaining. If you don't like working for Gannett then leave. But please stop all of this silly chatter on the smallest of changes. Anyone read about the massive job cuts at citigroup? We all would love to turn the clock back to 1980 but it's 2008 so let's get up to speed with today's challenges!
ReplyDeleteDid you really want to compare a staff reduction of up to 10% at Citigroup with what's going on at Gannett? And you're telling us to wake up? You wake up! We're already there! We've been there! If you had read Jim's post from Feb. 28, you would know that the number of Gannett employees decreased 7.2% last year. This was disclosed in the 2007 annual report. And this doesn't even count all the positions the company has kept dark during the years-long slide into a financial abyss. Can you honestly say this is among the "smallest of changes?"
ReplyDeleteHere's Jim's original post for easy reference: http://tinyurl.com/2qmnjr
OP, you might want to do some research next time before you go spouting off. You're the one who is clearly out of touch with reality. And your attempt at spinning this as "getting up to speed" is a joke. This company isn't even close to getting up to speed. This is a company that is still pushing video -- any lame video! -- on the Internet as if it's the savior. The savior has come and gone. It was called journalism.
Okay, okay, for the sake of adding sanity to this, how much of the reduction was due to the sale of the five newspapers last year. Had to be more than 1,000 there alone.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point! And you're right: That probably did exceed a combined 1,000 jobs.
ReplyDeleteJim:
ReplyDeleteChecking to see if you are checking new comments on old posts. And assume you will want to rework this item.
2. Washington Post Co., has fallen from $6.92 billion to $6.65B. Smart education investment not so smart today?
3. E.W. Scripps, has fallen from $6.91 billion to $6.69B. Guess we have to take some credit away from those cable operations and those split operations, huh?
4. Gannett, up from $6.76 billion to $6.79B. Love it when the strategic plan works.
Not trying to put words in your mouth, though.
And as the original post said: Rankings subject to change...
ReplyDelete