['Real estate-centric' -- a satellite photo of downtown Phoenix]
The Arizona Republic briefs newsroom staff this afternoon on a second round of buyout offers now being rolled out. Top Editor Randy Lovely (left) leads the 4 p.m. meeting.Gannett's second-biggest newspaper by circulation (USA Today is No. 1) has been especially hard-hit by the nation's mortgage industry meltdown. As a result, Arizona is one of four states that have been a big drag on GCI's faltering earnings. "The struggling economy has put pressure on advertising demand for our publishing segment particularly classified advertising in our real estate-centric markets in the U.S. and in the UK,'' CEO Craig Dubow said yesterday in Gannett's second-quarter earnings report.
The Republic may be GCI's single-biggest employer; it has nearly 2,700 employees, Corporate says. The other three real-estate heavy states: California, Florida and Nevada. Phoenix also is home to KPNX-TV, which employs about 200.
Questions for Republic staffers: How many buyouts is the paper offering? Are departments other than news getting offers? And how do the terms of these buyouts differ from the last round? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
Earlier: Tipster says Phoenix lays off 50 in circulation, elsewhere. Plus: a bad forecast in Gannett's war room
[Photo: Google Earth]
I was a manager in classified and was layed off today. Tomorrow there is expected to be alot more layoffs.
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