Gannett's ranking in the prestigious Fortune 500 list of the nation's biggest corporations by revenue has tracked major events in the company's history.
GCI reached its highest point -- No. 130 -- in 1990, according to the magazine's database. That was a year after legendary Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth retired, following a decade of acquisitions that transformed the company into a coast-to-coast publishing goliath.
But by yesterday, when Fortune published its newest list, the company had fallen to No. 415, as revenue plunged with the rest of the newspaper industry. That was its lowest point since 1977, when the company ranked No. 426, according to my review of the database today.
The figures go back to 1972. GCI's lowest ranking since then was in 1975, when the company was No. 454.
Spreadsheet shows GCI's Fortune 500 ranking from 1972-2011, with noteworthy events in its history.
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| Neuharth |
But by yesterday, when Fortune published its newest list, the company had fallen to No. 415, as revenue plunged with the rest of the newspaper industry. That was its lowest point since 1977, when the company ranked No. 426, according to my review of the database today.
The figures go back to 1972. GCI's lowest ranking since then was in 1975, when the company was No. 454.
Spreadsheet shows GCI's Fortune 500 ranking from 1972-2011, with noteworthy events in its history.
Relative to the rest of Corporate America, these lists show Gannett has been on a downward trajectory since 1994 -- 17 years. You can't blame Dubow for that.
ReplyDeleteYou CAN blame Dubow for not being able to change the trajectory, though.
ReplyDeleteIf he led an executive staff that had an ounce of innovation, he might have been able to pull it off. However, I don't believe he has the skills, as he has clearly demonstrated so far.
I was working for Gannett in 1990 and in 1994. In fact, I worked there until 2010. The company leadership then and the company leadership now is like night and day. More precisely, professional and amateur.
ReplyDeleteDubow can't be blamed for everything, but he can be blamed for accepting the sort of pay and bonuses doled out to the best and the brightest, the type expected to turn failing companies around. All he has done is maintain a downward trend. Why is he worthy of bonuses and high pay for doing that? Isn't that the work of an average to poor executive?
ReplyDeleteI think the highlight was when Al put the "snakeskin" wall covering (yes, real snakeskin) in the men's room on the executive floor of the old rosslyn building....I'm sure the new tenants were saying "wtf" and covered it or painted....but those were the days.....I miss those days
ReplyDeleteLet's remember Dubow's predecessors as CEO, both of whom got paid very well to miss chances to grow and innovate GCI: John Curley and Doug McCorkindale. Both kept buying newspapers and presses, avoided R&D and ignored the disruptive threat of the Web to their beloved business model.
ReplyDelete1:02 am, that's all well and good.
ReplyDeleteSo Dubow isn't the only CEO to have missed opportunities to innovate.
That still doesn't explain why he is being compensated as if he hadn't (missed those opportunities and had righted the ship, so to speak). Given the state of Gannett's bottom line at the moment, including the measure taken to produce even these feeble results (layoffs, furloughs), NO ONE on the Management Committee deserves the multimillion dollar compensation packages the Board has awarded them.
If *I* were an investor (sorry, I reallocated my 401K to non-Gannett investments), I would be up in arms at this point. Or just sell my stock and wash my hands of this travesty.
another fond walk down memory lane - when the vp of advertising at USAT would visit the offices - trays of fruit had to be on silver trays (no joke, it is the truth) and the limo picking her up and taking her around - and it couldn't be white because white limos "were for hookers." Boy, I miss those days!
ReplyDeleteGannett began to sink, and everything started going to pot, not long after its move to Tysons.
ReplyDelete9:24 Was that advertising VP Jacki Kelley?
ReplyDeleteI remember the stuffed sheep in Neuharth's Arlington office, and the staff who each morning put chocolate kisses on the floor under the sheep's back end. I saw one of these sheep in the window of an Arlington, Va. carpet store recently.
ReplyDeletethe vp was not Jacki Kelley (she was actually a wonderful person and a very class act). this vp served in the cathie black days.
ReplyDeleteThe artwork in rosslyn was all bought by Al's girlfriend (she also did the same for Palm Springs)....I remember when the move to Tyson's took place and they place the stuff up for sale - let's just say not a lot of it was purchased by anyone so it doesn't surprise me to see things end up in store windows.
all these memories, I'm starting to tear up.
Yes, I vividly remember the girlfriend. Wonder what ever became of her. Obviously not Al's current partner.
ReplyDeleteIs she the same girlfriend who got him into trouble with New York's attorney general over art he bought for the original Freedom Forum offices in Rosslyn?
ReplyDeleteI do not know the answer to that question Jim - after al forced gannett to "buy-out" the foundation, I didn't keep track of him. hopefully, someone else has the answer.
ReplyDelete"I remember the stuffed sheep in Neuharth's Arlington office, and the staff who each morning put chocolate kisses on the floor under the sheep's back end. I saw one of these sheep in the window of an Arlington, Va. carpet store recently."
ReplyDeleteThat's some good stuff.