Thursday, March 24, 2011

Why Gannett is still burdened with $2.2B in debt

"We believe Gannett's stock is a terrific value and a very attractive investment."

-- CEO Craig Dubow in a July 25, 2006, statement announcing that, under his chairmanship, the board of directors had authorized Corporate to buy back an additional $1 billion worth of Gannett's stock. Shares closed that day at $52.57. By then, Corporate had already spent a substantial portion of the $1 billion earmarked for stock buybacks only a year before.

Ultimately, GCI blew $1.8 billion on buybacks in 2005-2008, paying an average $64 a share.

Today, COO Gracia Martore said in a statement that she expects GCI will finish the current quarter with $2.2 billion in debt, after paying down an additional $150 million. GCI closed today at $14.93.

2 comments:

  1. In other words, Gracia, it's time to get rid of more employees to pay down the debt???

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, she gets rid of employees to pad the bonuses. Silly minion...

    ReplyDelete

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