Updated at 8:16 p.m. ET. Gannett shares fell sharply today, closing at $18.65 -- down 4.6%, on a day when newspaper stocks overall got mugged. It was the third consecutive day Gannett's shares tumbled. And the plunge came just five days after CEO Craig Dubow ordered a mass layoff meant to juice shares.
The S&P-500 Index, a measure of the broader stock market, fell a much smaller 1%. Today's GCI dive erased what remained of last Thursday's 11% gain, on news the company planned to lay off 600 newspaper employees, and cut another 400 vacant jobs.
Gannett stock closing prices:
- Wednesday: before GCI confirmed layoffs: $19.26
- Thursday: after layoffs confirmed: $21.31
- Friday: $20.65
- Yesterday: $19.54
- Today: $18.65
[Image and data: Google Finance]
It's headed back down to the mid-teens. The layoffs will do nothing to stop the free fall.
ReplyDeleteHow long before someone makes a hostile play for Gannett?
What Gannett needs is a $24 per share proffer from eBay. Wouldn't you like a post-global option with your classfied ad? Okay, $20 a share.
ReplyDeleteGCI is ripe for the picking - but is it already rotten?
ReplyDeleteJust lovely. So people lost their jobs for ... what?
ReplyDeleteOkay, $19. Final offer.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they lost their jobs for a weekend spike in share prices. Seems like there was something else, though.
ReplyDeletePeople lost their jobs so the suits in the tower could attempt to save their large hides and equally large salaries. Period.
ReplyDeleteI thought it had something to do with that great, yet still undefined, transformation.
ReplyDeleteCutting headcount is generally a temporary fix, if that. The fundamentals in place prior to the layoffs still remain and are still forcing the price downward. And by pursuing this strategy, the C-level execs have basically painted themselves in a corner. Cutting too deep stifles growth and leads to more downward momentum.
ReplyDeleteSadly, this looks like the death throes of GCI.
The market has been down each of those days. Maybe you could put the stock in context (tell all sides of the story) when posting a blog statement about the stock. How did the GCI stock compare with the market?
ReplyDelete3:17, Do you mean the way GCI tells all side of the story to their employees?
ReplyDeleteHow can a company be in the "death throws" when it is making a profit? hmm?
ReplyDelete@3:17, Let's pursue that angle then, shall we?
ReplyDeleteOver the past six months, the S&P and DJI is down roughly 5-7 percent. Over the same time period, GCI is off almost 40 percent. So while the market has been basically treading water, GCI has been cratering. There's your context.
Gannett just sent out a memo about required reading for all managers: WEB FOR DUMMIES
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestreet.com/s/tsc-ratings-updates-gannett/newsanalysis/ratings/10433775.html says it all.
ReplyDeleteYou mean WEB FOR IDIOTS!
ReplyDeleteWarren Buffett's Buffalo News is offering buyouts: The paper expects fewer than 107 people to accept the buyout, and no action will be taken beyond that if eligible employees turn it down, the paper reported.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of money varies, but the baseline offer is $60,000, the paper reported.
This is a goal of 10% of the workforce. Key wording: "no action will be taken beyond that". Interesting difference in approaches with GCI.
A few years ago, I heard of a calculation that showed print was effectively "gone" based on trend lines, demographic projections, etc. The magic number in years was in the mid teens, and this was 3 years ago.
ReplyDeleteGotta be even sooner based on more recent trends.
Does anyone here read what they write before they post?
ReplyDelete"death throws"
"The magic number in years was in the mid teens, and this was 3 years ago. Gotta be even sooner based on more recent trends."
Good lord.
This small minority of Gannett defenders that wander onto this blog remind me of John Edwards. In the face of all evidence, they continue to deny anything inappropriate is happening. It can't be that the thousands of anti-Gannett management comments are all off base. Many of the tales told on here seem to match up with the facts as I know them. All the warts are being exposed. You can take the Edwards approach and continue to look all handsome in your towers, or you can admit that something is wrong with this company that didn't start last week.
ReplyDeleteSo what about the rumors that GCI is interested in buying the Star-Ledger in NJ if it's put up for sale?
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to recognized the "good lord" comments as the same person. The same Gannett defender using similar words. Why are you so afraid of letting people express themselves? Are some statements a bit over the top? Sure they are. But what is your problem with freedom of speech in a blog? No one is giving up nuclear weapon secrets here or even libeling anyone. Have you seen the comments on your own newspaper's web site from readers? And that site is suppose to be an extension of the paper. It's suppose to carry more prestige and truth based on the history of the brand. Yet you let people ramble on there. Count the clicks and hunger for the online interaction which translates to dollars for the company and, most importantly, you.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling some people in Gannett land really fear the free speech and networking that is occurring here. It's not easy watching your control of 40,000 workers disappear, is it?
Hey, you told us you wanted to learn more about the Internet...so here we are!
anon 4:30 p.m.: I believe the "good lord" post referred to appalling grammatical errors. It's "death throes". And the "magic number" sentence was just a mess.
ReplyDeleteWe all need an editor! I took the comment to have a double meaning, but perhaps I was wrong. My bad if I read too much into it. Still, the Gannett defenders do amaze me. We have worse problems than bad grammar.
ReplyDeleteHey, this biz is a mess. Modesto, Calif., a non-Gannett paper, offered EVERYONE a buyout according to an article in E&P. What if everyone takes it?
Gannett stock isn't likely to return to former highs, regardless of cuts or going digital or anything that I can see on the horizon. In the meantime, I sure hope the anxiety and turmoil Gannett properties are creating for employees subsides. Better communication with more info, greater vision and more inspiration (not just shallow pep talks and silly presentations) are badly needed. The company is only as good as its people. And right now, the people are hurting for many reasons.
ReplyDeleteman am i glad i just received a job offer from another company. tomorrow is going to be a fun day for me. i highly suggest those of you who aren't looking for employment elsewhere, to start.
ReplyDeleteThe newspaper industry is paying for years of dysfunction. Let's face it, newspapers and newsrooms were known for bad management, but they were also the only game in town. Editors managed like cavemen, but still had piles of resumes on their desks. The bean counters had plenty of beans because they paid college grads horrendous wages. When I began seeing the resumes dry up several years ago, I then knew something was shifting. The word had gotten out that even the biggest papers at Gannnett and other chains weren't desirable places to work. Long hours, bad pay, uninspired bosses. Folks with degrees didn't want to be a part of that. This wasn't 1950s, when barely anyone working at a newspaper had a college diploma. Talented people weren't taken in by the Watergate romance that gave print journalism a push. No more Lou Grant TV show. Yet Gannett kept running its business the same way. Talent levels became diluted. All the wrong people got hired and promoted as the decade passed. And while that was all happening, technology was blowing by this industry that was suppose to be on top of such trends. Gannett was formed in a very different era, with very different values. In some ways, they were cutting edge with innovations that USA Today brought to the forefront. But that is suddenly a long time ago. I am not sure a tiger can change its stripes overnight. They are trying to fit square pegs into round holes, therefore, all the tension.
ReplyDelete@6:17: Way to go! I remember that day, it was fun.
ReplyDeletei'm probably going to decide to retire 6 months to 2.5 years sooner than i'd planned because i'm so sick of the noxious gannett environment. i won't travel as much as i had hoped, but i won't have to eat alpo either.
ReplyDeletewhat will i do? volunteer in a local school, do crafts, help a political campaign, read all the books in my someday pile . . . exhale.
It's not "death throws"
ReplyDeleteIt is death throes ...
But Gannett is not anywhere near facing its demise. A thousand minions have sacrificed their careers to its profitablity.
The day I left Gannett (a couple of years ago) was one of the happiest of my life.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to leave newspapers altogether very soon, and it is an extremely sad time.
Not every newspaper company is like Gannett ... at least here, I felt valued and appreciated, even through these very difficult times in our industry.
In years past, it was not much of a professional organization. Sales reps were given a pad of paper, maybe a pencil, lucky to get a map, and told where to sell.
ReplyDeleteThe publisher and the EE had their hidden flasks. And red noses to go with it. And a few had their side affairs going on.
There was no real need for leadership or management. The monopoly fed the tiger. And the tiger was satiated.
No more monopoly. No more tigers.
In the Pressroom at the Arizona Republic they are just "laying off" about 35 people. No buyouts here. Then I believe they ought to "just Layoff" the foreman who only work six hours and are overstaffed......hey and lets go all the way to the vice president of production, Bob Kotwasinski, needs to go too. I am sure there is alot of "dead Weight" in the onion levels they have created over the years!! Good bye gravy train!!
ReplyDeletewow...12:22...you aren't a proofreader are you?
ReplyDeletePEOPLE... Quit with all the grammar/misspelling errors... Not everyone on this blog works in your precious newsrooms... There are other units in this business and we don't all sit behind a little computer pointing out others mistakes... We want EVERYONE that has a stake in this company to speak up and all you are doing is making them feel inferior... so STOP IT!
ReplyDelete@ 1:39 -- Normally, I'm driven goofy by silly spelling/grammar errors, but I think you have a good point.
ReplyDeleteI (saddled with a hard-wired inner copy editor who drives my friends and relations insane) misspell like a drunken sailor when typing fast, and the blog environment is not exactly Proofreading 401 class. It's conversational, that's part of the attraction, right?
If the intertubes were all OCD about spelling, we would not have such charming new terms as "pwning" and "fark," or for that matter "filk."
Language is liquid, y'all. Clarity, yes, gotta have it. But a few misplaced vowels? Forgive them. Please.
The proof readers who are editing the blog need to get a life.....stop criticizing people for mispells you are fired!!!! Don't think we are paying you for corrections!
ReplyDelete@1:39 and @2:50: I'm with you: Amen.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jim Arizona here we are going to take a big hit for lay-offs!
ReplyDelete