Thursday, July 15, 2010
Milestones | On this date, five years ago . . .
. . . Craig Dubow became Gannett's sixth CEO (July 15, 2005). A year later, he assumed the chairmanship of the board of directors.
11 comments:
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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One hell of a run Ole Boy! Great work.
ReplyDelete• 5 years ago the stock was 75 a share,,,today it is 14
ReplyDelete• 5 years ago we employed 55,000, today we employ 33,000 (and declining).
• 5 years ago we were a $8 billion business, today we are a $5 billion business.
I think we would all agree that 5 years ago we brought in the wrong leader.
Happy FIVE year anniversaryCraig! I hope you are satisfied with yourresults.
Where is Gary Watson, once the heir apparent to McCorkindale until leapfrogged by Dubow, these days?
ReplyDeleteGCI opened at $72.66 the day Dubow was announced as CEO. With the stock's $14.91 price as of Thursday morning, Dubow has led us to an 80 percent loss of shareholder value. This, my friends, represents a near-total failure of a CEO's (and board of directors') number one mission: To enhance shareholder value. Ultimately, the institutional shareholders are to blame for failure to take the actions necessary to clean house long ago. That they were fooled by these clowns for so long tells you something about the intelligence and fortitude of these witless investors. Sure, the economy is partly at fault, but smart management anticipates downturns and industrial upheaval. Dubow & Co. has done nothing but prove he is incapable of running a 21st century media company. It's way past time to send him and his Gannett-lifer lieutenants packing.
ReplyDeleteLast I heard, Watson was in Cocoa Beach, Fla., with you-know-who.
ReplyDeleteYou cant put all the blame on GCI's top. The entire market fell apart and investors were to unsure of what was going to happen to the newspaper industry as a whole due to Ad decline
ReplyDelete1:58 pm: Investors pay management for above-average performance. New York Times Co. stockholders, for one, got that during the period when Gannett has been led by Dubow.
ReplyDeleteGannett's stock fell 79% between July 15, 2005, and today, according to Google Finance. To be sure, McClatchy fell harder: 94%. But NYT shares fell a smaller 69%.
Here's a chart, showing those results.
Washington Post Co. shares have fallen 48 percent since 7/15/05, compared with Gannett's 80 percent drop. One reason? About 60 percent of WPO's revenue comes from the education field through its Kaplan Inc. higher-ed and test prep business. Gannett can't shed its newspaper (and all derivations) mindset. Oops, sorry, didn't Dubow buy an elevator advertising company once? Was there a toilet-stall and above-urinal ad company purchase along the way, too?
ReplyDeleteAnd WPO shareholders are still thanking Katie Graham for Kaplan.
ReplyDelete1:58 PM , Do you really believe that crap you wrote? I have never witnessed such lack of vision from a leadership team in my life. Name one decision that they have done to mitigate the effects of the downturn? Actually, lets go further back. When did they start to take the internet seriously? Have they even to this day? So, if i am a CEO and the economy goes south, does that give me a umbrella excuse to let a company fall as this one has? And what about the icing on the cake? 80% lost share value and they still give each other millions in bonuses? After all of that you still think they did a bang up job? For gods sake, what would it take to change your mind?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be an abject failure and still draw the paycheck that Dumbow does.
ReplyDelete