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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
57 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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Following today's disappointing first-quarter earnings report, GCI's stock now has a dividend yield of 5.8%.
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ReplyDeleteIs that good or bad? Seriously...
ReplyDeleteNieman Reports on what editors who left would do if back in newspapers. Why did they leave if they had good ideas about what to do? http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/issue/100071/Spring-2012.aspx
ReplyDeletebankruptcy alarm!!!
ReplyDeleteOnly one week left until what I call scab drivers take over at The Desert Sun.
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ReplyDeleteAnother valuable employee resigned from The Times in Shreveport today. I am now inspired to do the same. I just finished writing my resume and I hope it's just a matter of time before I find another job. Everyone in town is talking about what a piece of shit our product has become. It's depressing and embarrassing.
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ReplyDeleteWhat would editors do? Hopefully, never become editors again.
ReplyDelete9:51 PM – You're suffering from the same leadership vacuum afflicting the other 79 Gannett newsletters. Corporate won't learn because they refuse to admit they're wrong. To do so would mean someone would get fired, and by that I don't mean someone like you and me, I mean the Gannett 1%ers.
ReplyDeleteDeep dellisional spin control at the Crystal Palace today. Catch the Queen on that conference call today. The beginning and the tail end.
ReplyDeleteThe lies and half truths and contrary comments by Martore were stunning. She had the gall to say the numbers were better than projected. Wall Street seemed surprised.
She all but said there are more cuts coming, at least at USA Today, where expenses don't align with her revenue numbers. She justified the immoral, potentionally discriminatory dismantling of the Sports department. And she continues to assert that Sports Media will generate $300 million in revenue by 2015. oh, and Her Highness introduced her newest maiden of the Round Table, the vice president of sharpened hocus focus.
Expect unilateral layoff at most properties by the fourth quarter. Meantime, I'll get my extra
Who left Shreveport ?
ReplyDeleteJim, what is the dividend yield and why does it matter?
ReplyDeleteAnother Poor performance on the job last night...what a shame...Moral is poor...thanks Gannett..Keep those ceo salary's going up.. while us poor folk keep busting ass for shit pay and lousy Insurance...
ReplyDeleteResigned with another journalism job?
ReplyDeleteReply to 7:37: The high dividend yield is a byproduct of the fall in stock price (they are related inversely) and is, in a sense, "good" news for shareholders who took a hit Monday because it helps to put a floor on the stock price. The more the price falls, the higher the yield becomes, and the high yield attracts bidders (buyers), which stabilizes the share price. This is, in fact, part of what a dividend is supposed to do and, in part, why the board recently raised the divided.
ReplyDeleteReply to 7:52: Nonsense. It (bankruptcy) really doesn't merit comment but I fear that the naive believe this stuff when they see it repeated here. I hope for readers' sakes you are not a reporter.
Expanding on 8:29's comment, the yield is a measure of how much you earn in dividends on a stock.
ReplyDeleteIt's calculated by dividing the annual dividend (80 cents in Gannett's case) by the current stock price: $13.89 at yesterday's close.
So:
.80/13.89 = 5.8%
Why is that important?
Banks are now paying about 1% interest on bank deposits. Investing in GCI shares, you would earn much more: nearly 6%. That makes it an attractive stock to buy and hold.
Of course, your bank deposit is risk-free because its insured by the FDIC. Its value won't go down. And, of course, it won't go up, either.
Historically, high dividend yield stocks didn't much change in value. They produced steady dividend income with relatively little risk, and included banks and utilities, such as telephone companies and gas and electric companies. They were sometimes referred to as "widows and orphans" stocks because of their relative safety and reliable income.
Corporate passion topics roadshow coming to Shreveport next week. From those who went through this--what should we expect?
ReplyDeleteI've been told that long-time Gannett employee Mark Silverman, who is now leading the News Department's training efforts around the Passion Topics initiative, will be retiring from Gannett early this summer.
ReplyDeleteSilverman joined the News Department in August from The Tennessean at Nashville, where he was the paper's top editor. His earlier stints including the top editing positions at Gannett News Service; The Detroit News, and The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky.
Silverman "retiring" would be some of the best news ever
DeleteIncredibly angry guy.
Delete9:42 a.m., we had the passion topic talk a few weeks back at my site in Wisconsin. We'll be targeting people who take pride in their decks and take care of their lawns. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteDoes Silverman's retirement mean he lost the battle with Kate Marymont?
ReplyDeleteIs there any published information comparing Gannett's circulation and financial declines per paper to other competitors per paper? I am just curious how all this "industry in decline" stuff compares to other comparable markets. How much of this is the industry and how much of it(if any) should be attributed to Gannett's management decisions?
ReplyDeleteGee, but what do you REALLY think, Robert???
ReplyDeletehttp://seekingalpha.com/article/501711-gannett-first-quarter-reconfirms-the-long-term-demise
Gannett - First Quarter Reconfirms The Long-Term Demise
April 16, 2012 |about: GCI
BY ROBERT BROENS
Shares in the international media and marketing solutions company Gannett (GCI) fell almost 8% today after the company reported disappointing first quarter results ...
After today's decline the market values the publishing company at a mere $3.2 billion dollar. At this valuation Gannett trades at 0.6 times annual revenues and a mere 7 times 2011's annual earnings. ...
... As a result of all this shares have fallen some 82% over the last decade....
The company has not been able to turn things around and the first quarter results indicate once more that there is no long term viability for the company as the transformation is going too slow and the new businesses are too marginal to revive the former publishing conglomerate.
Thank God and Greyhound that Silverman won't be able to torture more employees.
ReplyDeleteHow does the song go again? Oh yea, "Ding-Dong Gannett is dead."
ReplyDeleteFrom the Lansing State Journal...
ReplyDeleteHASTINGS — An LSJ Media carrier was killed Wednesday morning while delivering newspapers in rural Barry County, company officials said.
Neko Meyer, 38, died in a traffic crash on Bivens Road after it appears she lost control of her car in loose gravel, said Linda Argue, the company’s distribution director. Her family has been notified, Argue said.
Barry County sheriff’s officials did not release her name Wednesday, but said the 4:55 a.m. crash in Maple Grove Township involved a single vehicle. The vehicle was traveling east on Bivens near Devine Road when it overturned and struck a tree.
Argue said Meyer lived in Hastings and delivered newspapers for both Lansing and Battle Creek customers. Both the Lansing State Journal and the Battle Creek Enquirer are owned by parent company Gannett Co. She had been a carrier since January, Argue said, “and was doing a great job for us.”
Barry County sheriff’s officials continue to investigate.
9:57 If true, good riddance to sadistic Silverman. May all the misery he inflicted come back to him. Karma's a bee-yotch, but he has a pile of money to carry him through.
ReplyDeleteJim, do you know anything or have you heard anything about a new online competitor for Florida Today? Several people mentioned that to me yesterday, but I do not know what they are talking about.
ReplyDeletePointRoll will keep Gannett alive.
ReplyDelete11:53 Indeed, it's called Space Coast Daily.
ReplyDeleteI meant to take note of its launch yesterday, but was tied up with the earnings report.
I think these competitive online sites will start popping up all over the country. Everyone is aware what a mess Gannett is and that they are no longer reporting viable news stories. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic!
ReplyDeleteSent: Mon 4/16/2012 4:10 PM
ReplyDeleteFrom: Carolyn Washburn
To: Cin-News Users
Cc:
Subject: in case you are getting calls about a photo in Sunday's paper
A photo ran on the state government page of a protestor holding up a sign that used the word f#*&. It was caught on the press and replated but it still went out to several thousand homes.
Here is how I am responding.
Yes, the photo was completely inappropriate, on many levels.
I learned about this after midnight Saturday when someone in our operation saw this photo and alerted us. We stopped the presses to change the photo and threw out thousands of papers still sitting at our dock. Unfortunately a few thousand papers had already gone out to carriers.
I deeply apologize and am working this morning to understand why this photo was chosen in the first place and why it was not caught sooner. I take this very seriously.
Again, I apologize.
Carolyn
What USA Today doesn't realize is that the Sports section is what sells the print product-gutting that franchise will take the rest of the paper to a lower level than it is now-if it can get lower.
ReplyDeleteSo the buyouts were "voluntary." Yeah, right. Jackson, MS TV station WLBT interviewed "newly retired" columnist Rick Cleveland.
ReplyDeleteJACKSON, MS (WLBT) -
Jackson's Clarion Ledger said goodbye to two of its best known and most beloved columnists in Sunday's edition.
Brothers Rick and Bobby Cleveland wrote their final columns for the paper, ending a combined 80 years of writing sports.
Rick Cleveland, 59, is leaving 42 years of sports writing to take over the late Michael Rubenstein's job as Executive Director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Cleveland makes it clear the buyout he took was voluntary, but he reveals how it worked for the first time publicly.
"One year salary and one year benefits," said Cleveland.
When asked what would have happened if he hadn't accepted the buyout, he said, "Well to continue working at the Clarion Ledger, but with no guarantee of past two weeks. I mean that's all anybody has at the Clarion Ledger, these days. I want to emphasize this is not just in Jackson. This is something going on in our industry; it's not just going on in Jackson.
Cleveland has nothing but praise for the people he worked with in Jackson, but he is not so generous to the Gannett national organization.
"I do have a problem with the whole idea of corporate journalism, where one company owns 82 papers around the country, and they don't really have a stake in what goes on, and the welfare of the people of that state, or city that they serve," said Cleveland.
Why has Florida Today become the local PR department for Brevard county? Apart from a few worthless crime stories, and the usual "space shuttle is wonderful" stories, all you can find is how great everything is. What a shame.
ReplyDeleteRemember when we could identify colleagues as rising stars. Now, many are seen as unlikely successors or are getting out.
ReplyDeleteI've seen people leaving that were AD, Pub and EE candidates in the making and/or on upward tracks in other areas, stopped cold. Coattail factors remain, as we have seen, but achievement, experience and commitment are a liability.
Silverman leaving may be relief to some, but it really is a sign that the hope for the longtimers to have a real opportunity at a second life within Gannett is gone. His experience may include damage in his rising wake, but he was poised and propped to move into another top spot. The fun for him is gone. He took great joy in the biggest challenges, now done.
Why is everyone in Cincinnati scared of the word "fuck"?
ReplyDeleteFlorida Weekly is starting a new paper in Brevard to compete with Florida Today. Word is a newly bought-out former Gannett employee will be running it.
ReplyDeleteJim, Don't know if you recall but the Desert Sun was going to let go of all their Single Copy drivers and others about two years ago. They decided not to after someone from KESQ Channel 3 did a story on it. Well they are at it again. Hopefully that person who I think you may know will do another story on it. They are switching to a Distributor.
ReplyDeleteJust overheard news about Detroit. Looks like Free Press is going down. With Silverman retiring, Hunke leaving. They lost their advocates. Bye bye and good riddance to that money-sucking paper.
ReplyDeleteI would think Hunke's departure would immediately benefit Detroit.
ReplyDeleteJim, it's 3:39 does that mean you are no longer in touch with that person?
ReplyDeleteI was hoping you might help.
Print newspapers in Brevard are on life support. No matter how many ways one tries to revive the print concept, it's DOA. Just ask Florida Today. I did however look at the new online publication called spacecoastdaily.com and it looks like it has a shelf life. They are hitting sports coverage hard and I like their focus on community issues. Makes Florida Today seem like a wheezing denizen of one of the many retirement homes nearby.
ReplyDeleteAt what point will all the layoffs, buyouts, loss of institutional knowledge, furloughs and impossible workloads (for some, not all) render USA TODAY incapable of competing on a national level?
ReplyDeleteI know other mainstream media outlets are suffering, but most of their wounds aren't self inflicted like they are at USAT. Gannett turned USAT into just another stripped down property and used the recession as an excuse to do it. Problem is, you can't compete on a big stage with a ruthlessly lean staff and employees who have no clue about basic journalistic principles -- the same principles that would sell if only some company were willing to do things the right way. That company won't be Gannett. And that product won't be USA TODAY.
The nation's newspaper has lost clout in the industry and with the readership. The fall from the top essentially happened in the last five years, which is a remarkably short period of time for a brand to lose its credibility in and outside the business.
I have to wonder when USAT will finally become some niche publication/website ... some trivial rag read or visited by the same idiots who like watching people fall off their skateboards on YouTube. I see no way for USAT (print or online) to recapture an audience that is seeking well-edited news/sports delivered on time and with an authoritative voice.
RIP USAT.
7:06 I don't think I was ever in touch with that person to begin with.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim, sorry I thought you knew somebody from your time spent in Palm Springs. I remember that happened but it may have just been a reader of your blog.
ReplyDelete7:32pm, really now? Have you looked at the 71+ page Viera/Suntree weekly? What about the small 32 page Port St. John paper? Someone must be reading them, otherwise the advertisers would leave. No, print is not dead, yet.
ReplyDeleteAn FBI complaint was filed today. Did you really remove links to cover up a criminal act?
ReplyDeleteYou should have consulted an attorney regarding you legal obligation. Moral obligation should have taken care of it.
ReplyDelete