While I was in Brazil last month, I missed the fourth-quarter earnings conference call between Gannett's top brass and stock market analysts who follow the company. Reviewing this transcript, I stumbled across an eye-opening exchange between Lehman Brothers analyst Craig Huber and Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore.Huber: Noting that overall Gannett employment is down 6% to 8% from a year ago, he asks if the company can cut that many more jobs in 2008. "Do you think you have enough slack in the system where you can take that out again, that similar number in this new year?"
Martore: "I don’t think anyone here at Gannett believes we have slack in the system. However, we continue to look at opportunities, as I said, to further consolidate things and centralize things as technology allows and as we continue to look at opportunities, both internally and externally. So we will I think continue to do the job you've come to expect of us to do on the expense side."
Translation of Martore's answer: Yes, sir!
[Image: my favorite slacker, Bart Simpson]
How about starting with Gracia? There's a pile of "slack." Between pay and bonus, that would be, what, two million?
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