Honololu: Union says Advertiser now losing money

Scrambling to cut up to $10 million in labor costs, The Honolulu Advertiser has now begun losing money, as economic growth dives in tourism-focused Hawaii, a published report says.

"It's never good news when an employer says they're losing money and offers up the books to prove it," Newspaper Guild officer Wayne Cahill told the rival Star Bulletin newspaper. "What they're telling us is true."

Cahill spoke with a union-hired accountant who inspected the Advertiser's finances, but was "bound by a confidentiality agreement against discussing specific findings,'' the Star Bulletin story says.

The Star Bulletin report comes after Publisher Lee Webber offered another round of buyouts to employees through a memo distributed Friday; the note did not say how many buyouts the paper is seeking, the Star Bulletin says. Webber had said previously that the paper was looking to trim $5 million to $10 million from its budget.

Is your paper now losing money? Do you suspect that's true? 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.

[Image: today's front page, Newseum]