Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Week Feb. 7-13 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

54 comments:

  1. For Part 1 of this comment thread, please go here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @10:28 from previous thread:
    "Something is going down soon in the south, VPs are acting stranger than normal."

    Can you elaborate?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pointroll is falling apart2/09/2011 6:36 AM

    Hello my fellow PointRollers...For those of you not in the "know", Jason Tafler is definitely leaving, his announcement is coming out soon. In fact, some of the execs here have been talking about Gannett announcing that he is leaving this week.

    I heard from one of his direct reports that Jason is joining a Canadian communication company called Rogers Cable Company. I also heard that Rob Gatto, Jason Tafler's only successor, is also leaving PointRoll and is joining Saridakis at GSI Commerce. It seems like our parent, Gannett has been dragging their feet and are likely going to put Sandy Dondici in as interim-CEO.

    Has everyone heard about all the sales people that quit the last week? Apparently there were six resignations!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This morning, there are 4 top level jobs working for Moms Like Me on CareerBuilder. Anyone know what's up? I thought they were going to close that POS.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As we have posted here before, there appears to be many "quiet and under the radar" layoffs.
    Maybe this is being done intentionally by Gannett because of this site or to show stackholders that stability is finally being achieved.
    Either way I think it should be more widely
    and loudly discussed here.It seems as though
    the huge amount of layoffs reported here recently has been mostly ignored.It also seems that this an ongoing trend for Gannett .Ten today, 20 tomorrow 50 the next day and so on.
    And no one on TV will mention it or here, for that matter,and no one will even know it's
    happening.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pointroll is Falling Apart...

    Rob Gatto will be missed. He is a good guy. I heard that Tafler couldn't secure a job here in the states and that he knows Pointroll is in some bad shape, so he is fleeing the country. Smart move for him as well. He wasn't worth his time here.

    In our office at Conshy, the mood is very somber. There is not much going on here and it does not look like we have much new business coming in. We can tell everyone is on edge now that we have seen so many people give notice that they are leaving Pointroll.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ohio 12:50 was in the Group office, in Finance. Someone at the Newark Advocate was also let go on Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  8. See ,
    The trend grows continuously.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Corp sends out the note. "This is where you are, this is where you need to be. Either increase revenue or cut cost. At the same time, tell us what you can do to come up with another $___ next month."

    We're making money. We're making A LOT of money. The economy still is slow, so enhancing revenue is difficult - so we have to cut.

    But we've gotten to the point where we have to eliminate the guy putting on the tires or the girl putting in the engine. For a month our profit looks a little better - but then the customer notices we have no engine or tires on our product.

    Corporate needs to identify sites to shutter or sell. There are no Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Plymouths, Hummers or Saturns made anymore. Putting vinyl seats in Cadillacs wouldn't have saved them either.

    Spend money at the sites making money - or at least, cut them the slack to turn in only 20% profit for a year. If they're making money now, they can when the economy gets better ONLY if they still have the tools.

    If a site can only muster 5% and that's not good enough for stockholders, sell us. We can make 5% go a long way.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 8:39 is right. For once, GCI actually came up with a great strategy PR wise, poor with respect to corporate transparency. (Which, when the economy comes back, will be a major recruitment issue. Because what job seeker with any value whatsoever would want to work for any GCI property at this point, if there are multiple offers?)

    Which is why the more anecdotal, incremental job losses need to be reported here, by folks out there getting the ax. Crowdsourcing seems the only option in this case.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The trolls are a little quieter than usual because they're seeing their names on those OC charts -- with red lines crossed through them. Instead of sending rank comments to Gblog from their company Blackberrys in bathroom stalls, they're calculating the impact of losing six-figure salaries and going to unemployment, severance pay and the proceeds of their underwater GCI shares. They're also noticing that the tissue dispenser is empty.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Rumor is Bob Dickey's in Nashville today.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It's not just salespeople leaving pointroll so are us developers and ops people. We are nit going to stand for these changes. Goodbye!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Five total jobs cut this week in MNCO. One in the group finance office in Newark, one in group marketing in Newark, three others at other sites.

    But Kate Marymont is on site today, so that should make everything OK.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What are you all talking about? Gannett is hiring.

    Currently listed on JournalismJobs.com:

    Company: Gannett Co., Inc.
    Position: Director of Content/MomsLikeMe.com for Gannett Digital
    Location: McLean, Virginia
    Job Status: Full-time


    The Director of Content will be responsible for all aspects of content strategy and implementation for MomsLikeMe. The Director will effectively use content to drive audience interest and conversations across the site at both the national and local levels. He/she will serve as a key member of the MomsLikeMe team, providing direction and input to guide the ongoing development of the site, especially for content-related products, features and offerings. This position will report directly to the General Manager, MomsLikeMe.com.


    They want a bachelor's degree and 5+ years experience.

    http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1232086

    I know times are tough in the industry. But who would want this gig?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Keep the layoff reports coming.
    Now we are beginning to see how wide spread
    these under the radar layoffs really are.
    If any of you know of others in the past weeks,
    that would also be good to know.
    I know it makes the situation more stressfull
    to know that more are happening,but at least the reality will be known.

    ReplyDelete
  17. 2/09/2011 1:50 PM

    There is staff that does this locally for MLM and for Metromix now, so obviously someone will take the job to do an expanded (national) version of the job at corporate. Might not be your cup of tea or for most, but someone will take it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. 1:40 or anyone else: Happen to know the other three MNCO sites where jobs were cut?

    ReplyDelete
  19. what is "MCNO"?

    ReplyDelete
  20. SORRY, it's MNCO.

    ReplyDelete
  21. A finance manager in Nashville was told his position was being eliminated last week. They offered to let him stay at a different position at a substantially lower pay rate.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The Media Network of Central Ohio is a group of small dailies.

    ReplyDelete
  23. @4:09 - you typed it right, i typed it wrong...lol...sorry, i was serious about what that meant, not being sarcastic :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. 1. USAToday is preparing a plan to for spinning out of Gannett or to be sold. Conversations are ongoing. In the meantime, Hunke has been asked to clean up the balance sheet and "pretty up" USAT.

    2. Pointroll is in a complete tailspin. So far they have received over two dozen resignations in the last two weeks from rank and file sales, operations and account management. Their period 1 revenue and ebit fell short and lower than the last two years!

    3. Gracia Martore is now actively trying to shore up her credibility by reaching out to all business unit heads to show that she cares and understands the challenges they face. This is a new initiative that will have her visiting offices WITHOUT Mr. Dubow. This is the first phase of Craig Dubow moving away from Gannett.

    4. Gannett is struggling to retain Pointroll's top talent and any Digital talent. Jason Tafler,a Saridakis top pick current CEO of Pointroll, is announcing his departure next week and will joining Rogers Communications in Toronto. Rob Gatto, SVP of Sales at Pointroll has already announced his departure and is rumored to join Saridakis at one of is start ups. Gannett is expecting that several more Pointroll executives will announce their resignations leaving an enormous gap in the management team.

    5. Layoffs are starting across several locations but will pick up rapidly entering March when most furloughs are completed. It is still estimated that over 5,000 employees will lose their jobs this time next year. Gannett has a goal of being at 15,500 employees by end of 2013.

    6. Ripple6 has been closed down.

    7. Cafe Mom deal has officially been terminated by the CafeMom team due to "weakness" in Gannett executive team and Gannett poor history of making acquisitions successful. Many people in Gannett Digital speculate that the CafeMom management team read this blog and were spooked by the what they read.

    8. A major executive (GMC) will be announcing a retirement within the quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  25. USA Today Travel Tip, courtesy of Demand Media
    Illegally fly to Cuba in three easy steps
    LOL

    http://traveltips.usatoday.com/fly-cuba-20899.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thank you My Boss! I work at PointRoll and you are correct. We have seen some of our top sales people quit the last two weeks and we just heard that Rob Gatto is leaving the company too. We also heard that Sandy Dondici is going to take over as the CEO of PointRoll, but we are worried that with the engineering team from ShopLocal taking over all of development, we will most likely see some of our top db developers and engineers leave PointRoll.

    Management was in the office today planning for a meeting with Gannett. It seems like all management is working on their resumes while the rest of us watch the business disappear.

    ReplyDelete
  27. 1. John Hartman, who has written two books about USA Today, says Rupert Murdoch reportedly offered to buy USA Today more than a decade ago for $1 billion, according to Jim Romenesko's blog. It would fetch nowhere near that amount today, however.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Next week is PointRoll's sales conference in Vegas....Who is going to attend? I work for a PointRoll competitor and would like to thank Jason Tafler for his crappy leadership. He did a good job running this business into the ground...Thank you loser!!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. How many people are employed at Gannett?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Last official number (at Dec. 31, 2009): 35,000. Today: closer to 30,000, I suspect.

    ReplyDelete
  31. They are going to cut half their staff in two years?! Is that even possible? I don't doubt My boss, I'm just scratching my head at the number. I've seen this company do crazier things. They would have to sell papers and presses and ... I can't imagine.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Sell USA TODAY?

    This sounds like something that was leaked to a select group in order for the company to learn who My Boss really is.

    Gannett and USA TODAY seem pretty well tied together... but anything is possible.

    Because of the stock buy backs, dividends and increased debt load, the balance sheet might need some juicing.

    ReplyDelete
  33. 6:02
    Hell they sold our presses a year ago and I expect,after having already laid off nearly half of all employees, and revenue is still down 40%
    and dropping. We will be history soon.

    ReplyDelete
  34. The word is Westchester is laying off 100 Single Copy drivers in 30 days...2 employees from the Finance were laid off 2wks ago. Advertising staffs are being re-interviewed again for their jobs!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Apparently, Gannett has hired bankers to help "assess" the USAToday situation. It is one of the reasons why you have so much institutional buyers of the stock in recent days. I think My Boss might be onto something.

    Also, weird requests have come into my department looking at pro-forma results "ex-USAT".

    ReplyDelete
  36. I interviewed with CafeMom and they were asking me about Gannett and the executive team and teh Digital management. They really did not have good things to say about them and I got the sense that they were shafted by Gannett. Sounds like it was not a good ending for all involved. I decided not to take the CafeMom job, but I am likely going to stay local and join Verve Wireless next month.

    ReplyDelete
  37. MyBoss...what you posted fits into what I've heard here in Broadcast. GCI wants to sell off or spin off most of print and keep Broadcast. USA Today is the most valuable Print asset, so a separate action for it versus the rest of print makes sense. GCI is trying to unlock value for shareholders and Blackrock and other investment firms see it as well.

    ReplyDelete
  38. "Cafe Mom deal has officially been terminated by the CafeMom team due to "weakness" in Gannett executive team and Gannett poor history of making acquisitions successful. Many people in Gannett Digital speculate that the CafeMom management team read this blog and were spooked by the what they read."

    Need any more proof that Jim provides an incredible service here -- and this time for those outside GCI who were considering joining this horrific organization.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Well, as one of GCI's print employees, I'd love to seem them sell my paper. Please, we could do so much more without a ruthless profit-mongering owner. Huge profits? Probably not. Modest profits and a good product? Probably.

    ReplyDelete
  40. If Gannett's intention is to sell off papers, they need to stop all of this consolidation nonsense right now.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Unbelievable !!!! Now Gannett is consolidating the consolidations !!!! "Centers for Excellence"

    ReplyDelete
  42. Time to escape !
    Plan B's should be firmly in place and evacuation
    directives should be issued !
    Leave in an orderly manner,
    and ,oh yeah,
    last one out ....lock the door and turn out the lights!
    The party is officially finished ,the horn has blown and the game is OVER !
    Let the chaos be handled by the Gannett bogus bonus takers.
    Good luck to all!

    ReplyDelete
  43. 8:03, you never should have existed outside of a wet dream. Are you and other dummies here actually believing that fantasy? Wake up.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Well, this is an unexpected turn of possible and unconfirmed events. Who would Gannett sell USA TODAY to? And why sell USA TODAY and not the community papers, which really do need to be under local control?

    And what would that mean to those of us who work at USAT? We've had favored-child status for such a long time (don't hate on me: I used to work at one of Gannett's red-headed stepchildren papers), it's scary to think that we might be in for even more upheaval in the wake of the "Transformation."

    Not too happy to hear this. I'd almost rather stick with the devil I know.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Note to all: I have no way of verifying, confirming or fact-checking these reports about USAT. Treat them with extreme caution and skepticism; that's what I'm doing.

    ReplyDelete
  46. But wait, Jim. The comments do come from My Boss. He's right nearly all of the time, but it would be incredible to back track and look at his record. I bet it's above 80 percent. Some of the comments are actually getting in the way of Gannett's plans, like what happened with CafeMom and issues at PointRoll.

    It's amazing that a blog like yours could have that much power, but it really does.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I doubt this site has that kind of influence.

    ReplyDelete
  48. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  49. It seems that with the current interest in GCI stock that there could be a merger/buyout in the works.

    ReplyDelete
  50. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  51. “It seems that with the current interest in GCI stock that there could be a merger/buyout in the works.“

    This comment sure does make you think. No one has been this interested in Gannett stock for quite awhile, especially a financial corporation like Black Rock.

    ReplyDelete
  52. If in fact this blog speaks directly to corporate do yourselves a favor. Speak to your employees (especially in digital), find out why so many people are failing to hit numbers, why everyone is so miserable, why no one has faith in this company. Then you will further understand how to address this problem. People in leadership roles have been hired by who they know not what they know. This company is destined to fail and is losing out to more credible publishers.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Gannett's total employee count may now be 28,500 vs. 35,000 a year ago. That's according to a reader who sounds like they may have had access to this internal number. I have not verified this, however.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I have it from a very solid source that MyBoss used to work in our "innovation" group (if you can call it that) and now has spent a ton of time out West on company dime eating great food and living the life while the rest of us in digital are in hell every day. Any guesses? While most of you celebrate this troll and traitor, I for one think he is as slippery as they come. Screw you MyBoss! Your time as come and you should be dragged out of the building!

    ReplyDelete

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."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.