The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus in Howell, Mich., laid off more than 10 of its 95 employees yesterday, including two top editors who had each been there more than 20 years. "This is a significant work-force reduction designed to keep our paper viable in the face of staggering advertising declines due to the economy," General Manager and Executive Editor Rich Perlberg told his paper for a story today. "We've essentially eliminated a level of management by reducing positions in all of the company's departments."The paper is one of the smaller of five Michigan dailies Gannett owns in a state economy flattened by automaker woes. The Press & Argus is about 57 miles west of Detroit. It circulates about 13,000 copies daily, and 16,000 on Sunday, according to Deutsche Bank research.
Makes it interesting to read this now:
ReplyDeletewww.livingstondaily.com/
article/20090324/NEWS01/903240314
Isn't it nice that Gannett decided to give a present to itself so close to the fourth anniversary of its acquisition of Hometown...April Fools day 2005? Not.
ReplyDeleteIf Gannett wasn't so hell-bent on paying more than anyone else for its prey, there might actually be a far better story to be told here, and in other areas where Gannett’s acquired newspapers.
Hell, Gannett’s acquisition economics alone demanded cuts, a failing economy and out-of-touch leadership and expectations guaranteed it.
It's true:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20090401/NEWS01/904010324
I work in Lansing, and this hits a little too close to home.
From: Perlberg, Rich
ReplyDeleteSent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:15 AM
To: LCP-email_all
Subject: Today's news
Today is an extremely difficult day. I know most of you are stunned,
confused, worried and even angry. Some very good people lost their jobs
today. It had nothing to do with their job performance. It had
everything to do with an economy that continues to stagger our community
and ultimately our newspaper.
You may recall that in company meetings last year, I said we had made
some difficult cuts but had submitted a budget that would get us through
2009. But that carried one big "if." The budget would work if we could
hit our reduced revenue targets. That hasn't happened. Despite the
initial and continuing success of our new weekly Livingston Life
sections, our revenue so far in 2009 is running 15-20 percent behind
last year. And last year's revenue was a significant drop from the prior
year.
How can this happen? The effects of Michigan's stagnant economy were
worsened with the worldwide financial crisis last fall. People aren't
building homes or buying them. They aren't buying cars. They aren't
hiring employees. And that shows in our advertising...or lack of it.
When Taorello's and Circuit City closed, we lost regular advertisers.
When the Green Oak Village Place Mall cancels all advertising, we lose a
steady advertiser. In-coming calls to our classified phone room have
declined by as much as 30 percent. Although some auto dealers are still
maintaining a good advertising schedule, other regular accounts have
either pulled way back or cancelled scheduled ads. And there is
virtually no real estate advertising to speak of.
Despite a number of spending reductions, we are now on pace to lose
money in 2009. We can't do that. Today's layoffs are designed to make
significant payroll savings while leaving us with a core group of
employees to continue publishing a daily newspaper in Livingston County.
You are aware that other newspapers have reduced their publication days
and that is something we must also explore. But for now, our goals is
the survive as a daily newspaper.
I know you have many questions about today's decisions as well as how we
will function without so many key positions. Such concerns are natural.
Out of consideration to the people who are learning today that their job
is eliminated, I am going to slightly delay answering all of these
questions. However, I will be conducting a company-wide meeting at 2
p.m. Wednesday in the Howell news room. I strongly urge you to attend.
At that time I will tell you all that I can, answer your questions and
together we will get started on securing the future of our newspaper.
Rich Perlberg
General Manager/Executive Editor
Livingston County Daily Press & Argus
livingstondaily.com
What was the total number of FTE's and/or employees when Gannett bought this newspaper four years ago today?
ReplyDeleteWow! This paper has a circulation of 13,000 and had 95 employees?????
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, what were they all doing??
The 17,000 circ paper I work for - not Gannett - has about 45 FTEs. We'd like more, of course, but that's what we got.
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