Thursday, January 15, 2009

Blogger Mutter: Furlough could save 600 jobs

Here's how journalist and technology start-up investor Alan Mutter arrived at that figure, in this new post:

Assuming Gannett’s payroll is equal to 20% of its $7 billion in revenues in the last 12 months, then one week’s payroll is worth about $27 million. If the salary of the average employee is $45,000 per year, then the company would have to eliminate some 600 jobs to achieve the same level of savings as the furlough.

13 comments:

  1. Thank you!

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  2. well yeah....DUH!!! that's assuming that GCI is only interesting in saving the dough for one year. I hardly think that any of the employees let go in the last year will be brought back anytime soon...

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  3. Great. Thanks to the furlough I'm now a below-average employee this year since my salary is now below $45k.

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  4. Except that the cost of a worker is about double the salary, figuring in all the benefits and employment taxes. This guesstimate might be closer to 300 jobs, then.

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  5. 3:55 - you are wrong - it is not double, not anywhere close to double

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  6. I seriously doubt Gannetts average pay is 45K.

    This company created it's own problem by shipping jobs to India, reducing it's workforce, throwing people into unemployment and reducing thier buying power.

    It's the domino effect.

    If Dublow gave up his 7.5 million in compensation and other top executives took cuts in pay, 200 jobs could be saved!

    Gannett made 6.7 billion last year, down 8% from the previous year. Gee, 6.7 billion, that's terrible, poor Gannett.

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  7. I am hoping the furloughs take care of the first quarter, but what's going to happen in the second?

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  8. Having gone through a furlough at Westchester in the mid-90s, I sort of know what you are going through. I say sort of because there wasn't the specter of layoffs waiting at the end of the experience then. I just want to lend my support to those still in the trenches. I hung in there, through ever worsening conditions, until the "early retirement package" was thrust into my mailbox. Now I'm on the outside looking in and, for what I'm hearing, it's not a bad place to be.
    There is life after Gannett. Hang in there. If you do your job well, and it still makes no difference to the boss at layoff time, then at least you can look at yourself in the mirror, something the boss probably cannot do. Good luck and God bless.

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  9. 600 is still a bit off from 10 percent of 35,000, assuming that the first quarter reduction would need to be mid- to low-teens. If they want to reduce staff expenses by 10 percent they would still need to find a way to eliminate the equivalent of 2,900 more jobs. What are the odds that they already know this and are asking for the furlough to save even more money?

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  10. Geez... Gannett made $6B? Try about $1.7B in EBITDA and dropping like a stone.

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  11. 7:07 Let's try:

    2007:
    7.6 billion revenues
    1.6 billion income
    900+ million Net


    So, I don't think Gannett is anywhere near being in the red in 2008.

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  12. Don't worry friends. Evan Ray to the rescue!

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  13. 4:47PM

    How do figure Dubow made 7.5 million in compensation. His stock options are worthless, which were half of that figure. Start getting real with your figures.

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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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