Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday | April 22 | Your News & Comments
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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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Stock prediction $2.84 as the slide continues, the gold spray paint will start to come off those nickels.
ReplyDelete12:30am
ReplyDelete$2.25-2.50 is a great time to buy....I think, I am just watching it and will only dump some 401K at it to see what is in store.....lets say Gannett hits $4 again over the next qtr., it could mean good money even if it is downgraded too a rating of 2 by Wall Street
at our paper we are actually encouraged to twitter. for some required. on the job and for the job.
ReplyDeletewe have several on staff who do nothing but twitter and tweet and blurp and yammer all the live-long-day. and call themselves journalists.
they have managed to somehow convince the clueless that it is shiny = it is new = it is cool = it matters. she has the same reaction to mylar. don't send balloons.
seriously - clueless' chosen one = our a.m.e. of twitter.
if only they had been able to tweet from the titanic.
For many years before I volunteered to be laid off from Gannett, and for a few weeks since then, my wife and I played this newspaper game: As she backed out of the garage in the morning, I would guide her to orient her rear tires so she would flatten the Gannett paper thrown on the driveway. If we accomplished this task, we enjoyed a little ironic thrill. Our success rate was about 50 percent, and it was a pleasant way to start our day. Recently, however, the paper has shrunk so much that its normal shape is flat. Our game is no longer fun to play. Thus, we have abandoned our game and canceled our subscription. The paper lost all of its value for us.
ReplyDeleteGannett had some even brighter profit news in its mostly negative report. Backing out special charges for severance and writedowns, the company's newspaper division was running at an operating margin of 12.5 percent -- $140 million in earnings on $1.1 billion in revenues. Media General reported a $21.3 million loss on $160 million in revenues, without details that would show its operating profit or loss.
ReplyDelete9:31, you apparently managed to find a life mate every bit as stupid as you. They say there's someone out there for everyone, and I guess this proves it. Somehow, out of all the souls in the universe, an embittered fuck and a woman whose driving skills are so limited she can't back over a newspaper managed to wind up in each other's arms. A true love story.
ReplyDeleteMy bad if this has already been posted here.
ReplyDeleteListing for VP/Corporate Communications yesterday at mediabistro.com
http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/jobview.asp?joid=88940&page=1
Want to know how lazy days have come at USAT? Look at today's coverage of the suicide of David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
ReplyDeleteFreddie Mac's headquarters are next door to USAT on Jones Branch Rd. in McLean, and Kellermann's home in Vienna, Va., is two miles away. But USAT is using an AP story, and a compilation of local news media reports to cover this story.
So if you work for USAT, you don't bestir yourself about breaking news these days. Just sit back and let others do it.
That should have said VP/Communications for Gannett and you have to register with mediabistro.com to read it. Sorry 'bout that chief.
ReplyDeleteIf it's news, it's news to USAT. The NYT has three reporters on the Kellermann story, and CNBC has its Washington reporter on scene.
ReplyDeleteFrom Greg Mitchell's most recent tweet:
ReplyDelete"Just announced: Gannett Digital Media Network, which "ties together more than 100 digital communities with reach of 25 million people.""
http://twitter.com/GregMitch/status/1585609156
Cobra Subsidy Question : I got a call from YBR confirming my eligibility. The Rep said my full payment for March & April would be credited to my a/c & that I am paid up for the next 4 months which is great news. When I asked if I should ignore the May Bill that I got in the mail, I was told that's my 'call'.Because whatever I pay will be credited to my a/c. The rep would not clarify if I was expected to pay the subsidized amount, or the full amount??? & why? I am worried, they would cancel my insurance at the slightest slip on my part. WTF? Anybody had similar experience?
ReplyDeleteAP credited WUSA9 and WTOP radio with breaking the Kellermann story. You would think USA Today would pick up a story like that from quasi-sister TV station WUSA9.
ReplyDeleteUSAT now changed the byline on the Kellermann story to from staff and wire reports.
ReplyDelete$2.50 a good buy? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of good "penny stocks" out there right now that should end up around 30-40 or higher when the market recovers, and all of 'em will jump to 4 or 5 and back for awhile while the market stuggles to right itself.
I just don't see that same kind of potential with Gannett.
The fallacy many of us have is that GCI is going to bounce back to $90 after this recession ends. But recessions don't really work that way. What is happening is that business is developing new channels to distribute or advertise its products, and it is abandoning the old way of doing things. Newspapers can only give advertisers a third of the audience out there (less than 33 percent of Americans read newspapers), and so I don't see any return to the old days of two years ago. The message for all of us is that we can't keep on pissing off our audience, or allowing people to cancel their newspapers. We have lost our monopoly position, and it won't come back.
ReplyDeleteRE:1:13 PM
ReplyDeleteExactly. I'm not sure what the stock will shake out at. I agree that it's undervalued right now (so is almost everything), but you've got an entire industry that's declining inside of a recovering market. There's too many things at play to predict, which IMO, makes Gannett's stock too risky especially with so many other great opportunities out there.
11:58 AM: If you email me at KippyNJ@aol.com, I will tell you the name of the person to speak with at Corporate. I went through hell with getting simple COBRA information, but I was helped by one person at Corporate. This person asked that I not put the name on the blog or the person would be inundated with calls.
ReplyDeleteI have a theory about Twitter. Mainstream media largely missed the point on the rise of what became important social networks, like MySpace and Facebook. They weren't taken seriously at first, and by the time reporters swung around to cover it, these networks were already huge. So I think many outlets are looking at Twitter as something that reporters can "get in on the ground floor" with to document its rise from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteAt least, there has to be something to explain why half the HARO queries I read every day consist of random reporters doing random, inane articles about Twitter.
Anyone else seen this? I'm no financial guru, so if anyone could spell this out in laymans terms it would be appreciated.
ReplyDelete___________________________
April 22, 2009 8:59 AM ET
GCI today announced that the early participation date in respect of its previously announced private exchange offer for its 5.75% Notes due 2011 (the “2011 notes”) (CUSIP No. 364725AE1) and its 6.375% Notes due 2012 (the “2012 notes”) (CUSIP No. 364725AC5) (collectively, the “Old Notes”) has been extended until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 1, 2009 (the “Early Participation Date”).
On April 7, 2009, the Company commenced a private exchange offer to exchange $1,000 in principal amount of new 10% Senior Notes due 2015 (including a $30 early participation payment) for $1,000 principal amount of the 2011 notes, and $1,000 in principal amount of new 10% Senior Notes due 2016 (including a $30 early participation payment) for $1,000 principal amount of the 2012 notes. The exchange offer is being made only to qualified institutional buyers and certain non-U.S. investors located outside the United States. Holders who validly tender their Old Notes on or prior to the Early Participation Date, and whose Old Notes are accepted for exchange, will be eligible to receive the early participation payment.
The withdrawal date relating to the Old Notes occurred at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 21, 2009. Old Notes previously tendered and Old Notes tendered after April 21, 2009 may not be withdrawn. The expiration date of the exchange offer will be at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 5, 2009, unless extended.
Pursuant to the terms of the exchange offer, eligible holders of Old Notes may tender their Old Notes until the expiration date and still be entitled to receive the tender offer consideration if the Company accepts such Old Notes for exchange. However, any such tender that occurs after the Early Participation Date will not be entitled to the early participation payment.
This press release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell the Old Notes or any other securities. The exchange offer is made only by the offering memorandum and the accompanying letter of transmittal.
What happened to all the smart graphics that use to be in USA Today? Just a curious outsider here wondering why the paper that practically invented visual journalism has all but abandoned it. I am really not all that interested in animated, online graphics that sometimes work but often do not. I am speaking primarily of the large-scale, easy-to-digest (without a clicking through a bunch of stuff) print graphics that made the newspaper unique and worth the price. Not trying to be critical, but I just don't see the consistent visual explainers that I once did in the national paper and, as an old newspaper gal, I was wondering why.
ReplyDeleteUSAT is imploding thanks to the high-rate of brain drain in the last two years.
ReplyDelete11:58, send in your normal payment for May. Be safe rather than screwed.
ReplyDelete2:36. This is not good news because it indicates GCI got few offers to stretch out its debt. Looks like they are adding another week to the offer to see if they get any bites, but I doubt if they will.
ReplyDeleteAs we all should know by now, GCI has a major debt problem -- about $6 billion in all, of which half is long-term debt, and a quarter coming due next year. GCI wants to stretch out the quarter due next year for another three years in hopes of better things coming along. They are offering debt holders a 3 percent immediate payment (the $30 on each $1,000) as an inducement.
While that looks as as good deal, bond holders are watching the market. Eventually in the next year and a half, the markets are going to demand payments for these reckless trillions of dollars we are spending, and interest rates will increase. I think somewhat substantially, and I guess GCI fears that as well. If the debt comes due in that period of high interest rates, the new debt will roll over only at those higher rates.
How much higher? The recent downgrade of GCI debt by Moody's means GCI is now looking at interest rates of 16-18 percent or higher.
So why didn't the existing holders take the GCI offer, and why is GCI adding an additional week? Because if you hold GCI debt currently, you are looking at rolling this over at once-in-lifetime rates. What fool is going to trade in a bond carrying a 6 percent interest rate that could soon become one carrying an 18 percent interest rate?
Probably more than you want to know, but GCI is going to be forced to head off this debacle either by selling off assets to pay off the bonds, or raising new equity through stock offerings. Except that Dubow and Co. have let the stock plummet to historic lows and any new stock offering would ony send it much lower. So in my view, GCI will have no option but to take the 16-18 percent interest rates.
It's not much comfort to note the NYT is in a similar fix, although with only $1.3 billion in debt.
To 2:36:
ReplyDeleteWhat this indicates to me is, Gannett is having a hard time finding suckers who are willing to swap their 5.75 percent notes dues in 2011 for notes due in 2015 -- even though the 2015 notes are paying a whopping 10 percent.
Why?
Because the holders of those 5.75 percent notes have some confidence that they will receive their payments in 2011 -- and little confidence that Gannett will even be around in 2015, much less be able to pay off a slew of 10 percent notes.
10:36
ReplyDeleteYou must be a Gannett manager of some sort, the kind and considerate tone comes through clearly.
3:04pm
ReplyDeleteThe graphic department in India is closed due to a special holiday.
3:04, Hardly any print graphics in the community newspapers either. They claim they are doing web graphics. But two web graphic projects a year? Better pack your things, you will be next to be cut.
ReplyDeleteWho do I contact in McLean to find out what (and where) GANNETT will be selling at it's "Garage Sales" over the couple of years?
ReplyDeleteTrucks, Empty (or soon to be)Buildings, Fork-lifts, cubicals, copiers, light fixtures?? Any Sale-Lease-Back opportunities?
Focus area for is South Eastern United States (NC, SC, GA).
IndustrialComposting@live.com
Wow - a whole day and only 28 comments.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this was posted already, but saw this on a job site, posted yesterday:
ReplyDeleteVice President/Corporate Communications
Gannett Co. Inc.
Benefits: 401K/403B, Dental, Health
Job Requirements: The Vice President/Corporate Communications handles and oversees media, public and employee communications for Gannett and is a liaison with all divisions and departments in Gannett.
• Manage Gannett Corporate Media relations – take press calls, arrange interviews.
• Press releases – develop talking points, write and distribute releases. Approve releases by subsidiaries, vendors.
• Supervise managers and staff (currently publications, audio visual, travel services).
• Investor Relations liaison – work with Director of Investor Relations in developing speeches, messages for analysts, investors and Wall Street.
• Marketing liaison – develop relationships with marketers/business leaders in the company to assist in marketing efforts and promotions.
• Assist the field with media relations matters.
• Interfaces with senior management, assists with presentation capabilities and advises them on communications issues.
• Speechwriting, script preparation as needed, assist in the design of the overall look and execution of executive presentations for events such as analyst and Shareholders meetings.
• Event management (Employee awards, annual meeting).
• Oversees the maintenance of communication technologies at corporate headquarters (television system, auditorium, TV studio, conference room audio).
• Manage community relations (Gannett Foundation, Corporate Sponsorships).
• Develops and/or coordinates company communication projects.
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of directly related experience.
• Must be a strong manager, have exceptional writing, organizational, presentation and multi-media communication skills.
• Experience working with top management; experience as a media spokesperson handling complex issues; experience leading communications strategy planning and execution.
About Our Company Gannett Co., Inc. is a Fortune 500 news and information industry leader.
NEWSPAPERS: 85 daily newspapers including USA TODAY, and nearly 1,000 non-daily publications and USA WEEKEND.
BROADCAST: 23 television stations, reaching more than 20 million households, and Captivate, which delivers news, information and ads to nearly 7,000 elevator screens.
DIGITAL: 130 U.S. Web sites, reaching nearly 24 million unique visitors a day; numerous digital initiatives, including PointRoll and our partnerships in Topix.net, ShopLocal and CareerBuilder.
NEWSQUEST: U.K. subsidiary publishes 17 daily newspapers and more than 300 non-dailies and has a Web network of more than 80 sites.
USA TODAY: Nation's largest-selling daily newspaper – and USATODAY.com is one of the top online sites.
CORPORATE: Located in McLean, Va.
Tata Tara
ReplyDeleteHere's an argument FOR unions.
ReplyDeleteGM may lay off thousands of workers when it closes plants this summer, but the workers' UAW contract requires GM to pay most of the difference between their GM wages and unemployment wages.
But if you're a shareholder, it ain't so pretty.
Thus goes corporate America. The only thing that protects a worker is a union, IMHO.
8:45 Was that posted on Media Bistro? If so, why was it not posted in the regular GCI channels. You think it might be a spoof?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/dennis/host
ReplyDeleteBig Bill Albrechts best bud.
Yesterday someone asked what Mr. Moon has been doing since his "retirement."
ReplyDeleteIsn't the more relavent question whom?
Let's all of us buyout/layoff newsies apply for that corporate communications VP spot ... just as a little reminder most of us are still unemployed and some homeless now.
ReplyDeleteMy verification word: rentsup. That's a pretty good one.
ReplyDeleteOn the bond issue, you have to ask yourself why bond-holders would not take this 3 percent incentive to renegotiate their notes. They have been getting about 6 percent, which is pretty good. With the 3 percent incentive, that means a 9 percent return on your investment.
ReplyDeleteSo why so little interest in the proposal?
Heard Tucson got a bit more life support today. God bless them.
ReplyDeleteRe: Twitter -- if people are reading this sh** all day long, when the hell to they have time to work?
I look at Facebook a couple of times a week, and it's mostly drivel.
We'll grow out of this...eventually.