Monday, March 02, 2009

Urgent: S&P downgrades GCI debt to 'junk'

The ratings agency just joined Moody's, which took the same ratings cut step last week. Standard & Poor's this afternoon cited a "worsening pace of expected decline" in the outlook for ad spending across the company's U.S and U.K. papers, and TV stations. Brief iPhone post; will update. Comment, below, please!

11 comments:

  1. Well Well...

    Think anyone at the top cares about this? I think they are ready to take their Golden Parachutes and leave of their own accord. Walk away from the mess they made with no consequences and spit over their shoulders as they realize that no one is coming to clean it up.

    If you are former Gannett, be thankful. If you are current Gannett, time to seriously look for plans B-C and D

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  2. How much were those golden parachutes?

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  3. In this economy, there are few plans for B, C, let alone D career alternatives. Options are limited, but everyone does need to at least think about alternatives to working here.

    While some of the December layoffs have landed on their feet, most probably haven't. It is a far worse job market than any I have ever seen in my 35 working years. I don't think those who are still employed understand how bad it is out there in the job market so it's easy for them to say get out now.

    It seems that companies might be taking advantage of the gloom and doom news cutting people who really don't deserve to be laid off for any financial reason. I have a suspicion that companies are over-reacting, which is making everything worse. I can point to specific examples right here in Gannett where workers were let go because of age, or someone in some office disliked them for personal reasons, or were perceived to be making too much money or were falsely accused of not be tech-savvy.

    This company is getting what it deserves for some serious injustices in December and even further back when they forced a bunch of people out, maybe even including Jim. This drop in stock and the newly acquired junk ratings...well, what goes around comes around. This is not just economics. This is bad, bad karma for bad behavior and actions in recent months. The company created some bad mojo with those careless December layoffs, thinking that by getting rid of thousands of people that Wall Street would be happy. Gannett betrayed those longtime employees and now have even bigger problems.

    You can't keep doing ruthless things to people and expecting great things to occur as a result. The gods just don't work that way.

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  4. Well said 5:36

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  5. I mean 5:31

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  6. to 5:31 from 5:15

    There are people from the August and September rounds who still haven't found anything. I'm fully aware of the job market out there. It stinks. Smaller the area the worse it is too.

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  7. "This is bad, bad karma for bad behavior and actions in recent months. The company created some bad mojo with those careless December layoffs, thinking that by getting rid of thousands of people that Wall Street would be happy."

    That bad karma certainly started accruing earlier than December, MUCH earlier! It's true, what goes around, comes around. When I left, disgusted, in June 2004, a share was $87.55. That didn't take long...

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  8. Gotta make your own opportunities in this type of an economy. Easier said than done, right.

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  9. December was the final straw when the company totally betrayed thousands of loyal employees for questionable reasons (this isn't GM or Citigroup), but Gannett's history of heavy handedness goes back quite a ways. I agree. I also agree that all of these acts of negligence, abuse and betrayal have played a part in this company and other company's decline. Gannett and its properties and top managers were tested in December. And in a karmic sense, they failed miserably with laying off tons of people, leaving them in dire situation. The universe has a way of evening the score, though, I totally concur. Don't look at these numbers as just numbers. They are indicators of something even bigger than Wall Street.

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  10. GCI sacrificed thousands of people in December and more before then. They threw out human beings because they thought that is what the Wall Street gods wanted. As it turns out, all those human sacrifices didn't do a thing for this company other than get it in more hot water with downgrades. Gannett should have saved those jobs, shown a little loyalty and compassion, and found other solutions to ride out the storm. Simply laying off people, without regard for those employees, their families and so on, was exactly the WRONG move by a company known for making unenlightened decisions.

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  11. They now have just a few options left - suspend 401k matches, further cut the workforce, or sell or shutter under performing properties. Not much else left. The grandiose stock buyback is looking quite foolish these days.

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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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