Thursday, just hours after 2009 bonuses were disclosed, Anonymous@10 a.m. wrote, without a hint of sarcasm: "Bravo. Good for them. They all deserve their bonuses. Stop complaining. Look at the stock."Not so fast, now.
Consider this analogy: You employ a contractor to shore up a building's foundation, which is suddenly in danger of collapse. Instead, their work leaves the building even more vulnerable. Then, in a further outrage, the contractor demands millions of dollars more to fix it -- arguing they are the only ones with intimate knowledge of the building's weakness; after all, they did the shoddy work in the first place.
That's precisely what happened at Gannett. The board of directors hired Craig Dubow as CEO five years ago, with a mandate to shore up the company's finances at a time of unprecedented competition. "Craig has all the skills a 21st century media CEO should have,'' his predecessor, Doug McCorkindale, said at the time.
But instead, Dubow and his finance chief, Gracia Martore, took a very last century approach. They piled up unsustainable debt through a misguided $1.8 billion stock buyback. They compounded the situation by waiting too long to cut the dividend in order to pay down that debt. They missed a chance to sell underperforming assets when investors were willing, and financing was available. Finally, in desperation, Dubow and Martore ordered thousands of layoffs on top of company-wide wage cuts.
Now, they're bragging "efficiency efforts and cost restructuring" helped pull Gannett from the brink of bankruptcy. "As a result," Martore told a conference of Wall Street stock analysts on Thursday, "the company expects to reduce debt by well over $200 million in the quarter and will end the first quarter with a debt balance of approximately $2.8 billion."
And for all of that, the board of directors says, bravo.
Jim, Gannett should be ashamed of themselves ie: Dubow and Martore. But they are beyond shame, beyond human feelings. They only care about themselves and the Yes Men & Yes Women that surround them in the Crystal Tower.
ReplyDeleteFace the facts: no matter how much they drag down this company with devastating consolidations and cutbacks, they win. They pay themselves seven-figure salaries and lard on the benefits while ordering furloughs and layoffs. GCI was once $80, but now is hovering around $16. But there is no punishment at the Crystal Towers for this, only lavish rewards and country club memberships. This is a sick company and reeling from financial difficulties which will become apparent with the Q1 and especially the Q2 reports.
ReplyDeleteIt's a slash and earn policy GCI has adopted -- slash the payrolls and the executive suite earns more money. This is foolishness and defies any business text book. Look at the community newspapers and see the devastation.
ReplyDeleteI was laid off in my 50s from Gannett. It sickens me to see the leaders in this company rewarded for throwing me out of a profession that I gave a good portion of my life to. The fact that they prosper and sleep well at night while I and many others still look for work are indications of how evil they are. Do these heartless people know how hard it is to find work in one's 50s? The layoffs of 2008 and 2009 were morally criminal and will leave a stain on Gannett for many years. I lost my job, my friends, my house and my sense of purpose. My family has suffered, too. I never made much money in the newspaper biz, but I never thought it would end this way. It's been virtually impossible to find my way back into the profession despite years of experience. I am close to giving up. The fact that Gannett targeted a lot of experienced employees might have been good for business in that we earned a bit more than entry-level workers, but it has devastated so many people who have nowhere to turn anymore and have run out of hope and options.
ReplyDeletewell buddy anyone who's still at a paper is there because they're useful. you should have gotten more skills, rather than assuming Gannett owed you a living.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't. Nobody does.
11:27 PM
ReplyDeleteDoes Gannett owe Craig Dubow a living when he's gone and no longer useful to the company?
11:27, you are a grade-A asshat. There are people who are still working at Gannett publications who are useless asskissers. And many people who were laid off were hard-working and talented — and they didn't deserve to be dumped out with a crappy "transitional pay package." I know you'll say Gannett didn't owe them severance, either. But just because you don't have to do something doesn't mean it's OK not to do it. Common decency has been foresaken just to transfer money from the hard-working peons to the bean-counters who don't have one sympathetic fiber left in the beings.
ReplyDeleteWe can debate whether Craig Dubow and Gracia Martore have pulled us away from financial disaster, but no one will refute the fact that these two have morally bankrupted this company.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not suggesting any of the executives receive any more bonus compensation, but when you look at what the board approved for bonuses just between the executive ranks. Combine what Dubow and Martore both received and compare that to what Dickey, Hunke and Saradakis received and even that is absurd.
Does the board actually believe that a man lying on his back for five months and a bean counter actually deserve more than the people who are actually running these businesses, firing these employees and facing the backlash from disgruntled employees?
I bring this up as an example of how screwed up these two leaders are. If they are willing to take that much of the bonus pool and stock allocation for the top five executives, then you can imagine what that teaches the managers who have to determine bonuses for their "rank and file" staff.
As I said, these two have morally bankrupted this company and the actions they perform trickle down and affect the rest of this company.
Just wait for the real estate market to rebound just a hair. Whoever is left will have to work in rented hanger space while we sell all that valuable property - hell, we don't print or distribute out of that downtown office anymore anyway, why keep such a big building?
ReplyDeleteBravo 12:02am - well said, though you need to add on the corporate worthless ass kissers who remain in Crystal Palace.
ReplyDeleteAs to you 11:27pm, go to h***. If you only knew what goes on with the useless corporate crap in McLean.
This is going on in many large corporations. We really need our elected representatives to to pass guidelines for publicly traded corporations on how much compensation top management can receive in relationship to what lower level employees get. The health of a company should also be a factor. I don't think you'll get too many elected wanting to change the struture because this is how they get the large sums of money they need to stay in office.
ReplyDeleteGannet has reactive leadership tring solve problems after, rather then before they happen.