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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
32 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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Gannett's stock closed at $24.96 a share yesterday, unchanged.
ReplyDeleteI remember a few years ago when it was under$2, however I also remember a dozen years ago when it was $99.
DeleteWhat a ride!
The shorts were able to dive the stock down to 2 dollars for a brief time with the help of the Bashers but I saw through it and purchased at the four dollar level then doubled down at 2.20. Funny how the same ones that bashed the company are now the pumpers.
DeleteI used to bash the company, and I still do. Not as actively as in the past because I left to pursue other opportunities. But, to me, the writing is still on the wall. The people running Gannett don't understand how to operate a modern media organization, and it will fail unless they get fresh blood quickly. The stock went up because it was undervalued at $2 a share. A look at all the company's holdings shows that. It is not, however, going back into the $90s unless something major changes.
DeleteWell, if they bought back 100M shares, they might pump it to $40, but they ain't gonna take the float down that low.
DeleteThe only "fresh blood" Gannett needs is on its board, since they certainly already sent the ones with media experience in the ranks(regardless of platform) to the glue factory. I guess it just doesn't matter how long they look in the mirror of their successive errors. Not with their bonuses, does it.
DeleteBelo Sued by Investor Over $1.5 Billion Gannett Takeover
ReplyDeletePhil Milford Jun 18, 2013 12:36 pm ET
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Belo Corp., the TV station operator, was sued by an investor seeking to block a $1.5 billion takeover by USA Today publisher Gannett Co. because the $13.75-a-share bid is too low.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 363 pension fund sued Dallas-based Belo in Delaware Chancery Court, saying company directors are obligated to get the best price and agreed to an inadequate offer, according to filings made public today in Wilmington.
“The process by which Belo was sold to Gannett was not an auction process,” the fund said in the complaint. “Gannett CEO Gracia Martore acknowledged that the deal came about as a result of exclusive talks.”
The fund asks a judge to stop the deal under its present terms and to award unspecified legal fees and expenses.
Meghan Gavigan, a Belo spokeswoman with Sard Verbinnen & Co., said Belo had no comment on the lawsuit.
Belo operates 20 TV stations, reaching more than 14 percent of households in 15 major markets, the companies said in a June 13 joint statement. Gannett, based in McLean, Virginia, owns 82 newspapers and 23 TV stations.
The case is IBEW Local 363 Pension Trust Fund v. Belo Corp., CA8649, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-MOLHN06TTDT301-0T574UB5OJS6N1BRE7G2IV2HJN
That lawsuit might actually have legs, unlike other ones. Since the deal was announced, there's been a flurry of suits aiming for class-action status.
DeleteBut they've come from the usual suspects: law firms that specialize in suits whenever a big merger is announced, and they're speculative at best.
Well, at least your a realist, Jim.
DeleteAny news regarding Freedom Forum/Newseum in regards to any more potential layoffs?
ReplyDeleteDo the people who deliver papers to stores for Gannett even care? Yesterday as I entered a grocery store I glanced over at the rack and saw the Gannett local still in a large bundle. Whoever delivered them didn't even bother to open them up.
ReplyDeleteThat must be the quality delivery Gannett Publishing Services deserves when they outsource delivery to someone else.
Once the delivery truck drops off the papers, it's the store's job to open the bundle and put the papers on sale.
Delete3:11 that is not a good way to promote sales. The driver should ensure the papers are opened and displayed for the customers to easily pick one up. If the store refuses to open up the bundle the driver should open it for them and use a rubber band around them so they aren't just openly laying at the door.
DeleteMy assumption is you are talking about Sunday papers i.e. early edition and those delivered Sunday morning. Most carriers return on Sundays around noon and display those papers not yet opened. They know the Sunday is their bread & butter.
Delete"Outsourcing: A Great Way Lose Your Branding." I'm suggesting this as the next Gannett motto.
Delete6:40 it says yesterday that would be on Tuesday. Sundays don't have anything to do with it.
DeleteIs it possible the store wasn't open when the driver dropped the papers?
Delete8:15 that shouldn't make any difference if they were closed the bundle should have been opened store personnel shouldn't be relied upon to open a strap. Weather was fine if there is a chance papers will blow around a rubber band a large rubber band should be placed around the papers to keep them together. Rubber Bands are easily removed by anyone unlike a strap that the store employees and customers think needs to be cut to open. The papers were left in a rack still bundled together this is the wrong way to sell any papers.
DeleteOMG REALLY? Who here thinks a wholesaler/IC cares about the papers? Outsourcing has destroyed the sale, with it the customer service once provided. Staff cut to the absoltue minimum. Cookie cutter operations like USAT only know one way to operate, inefficiently. 60% returns on a good day, sales down 20% YOY. And we were told to use them as a model, fixing what wasn't broken.
DeleteI am leaving Gannett having been offered a buyout. I had a great run, back in the day I was proud to say I worked for Gannett. In the last year or so since the USAT integration, I came to hate the job, the superior attitude of people who don't know or care about a local market, they can't see beyond NUMBERS, Period. And make a substantial amount of money more than local folks do. Substantial.Yes I'm bitter who wouldn't be. Time to move on. Wish me luck!
3:21 Wise decision if I was offered a buyout I would take it. Local Print circulation and distribution has been destroyed by the GPS strategy. Good luck to you.
DeleteThe papers still had some kind of strap around them. I wasn't going to bother with trying to open it or ask someone for help. They probably just sat there the rest of the day in a strap. This is Gannets responsibility not mine or the stores. Gannett Publishing Services gets the quality of delivery they pay for.
ReplyDeletewas it daily or Sunday? Daily there's no excuse. Sunday, there are cases where the bundle(s) are left and the top bundle is opened so the inserts don't go flying about in the store. In that case it is the store's responsibility to take care of their stock. A daily paper there's no excuse to leave a strapped bundle.
DeleteHere we still have paper hired carriers to deliver as opposed to some who have outside delivery companies. There is a big difference. Paper carriers still care and for the most part are professionals. Outsiders punch a clock as it were and couldn't care less about anything but dropping them off.
They would have been a weekday paper and pretty sure they are talking about an outside delivery company.
DeleteCould a Gannett retiree answer this question: Do the company health benefits stay in effect for the rest of the month in which you retire? just need yes or no. thanks in advance!
ReplyDeleteYes, they do
DeleteI believe they do if you are fired or quit, too.
DeleteVa. Newspaper Removes 'Democrat' From Name
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/va-newspaper-removes-democrat-19436927#.UcInxuuvVJ-
In an editorial (http://bit.ly/102C4gg) published Wednesday, The Fauquier (faw-KEER') Times-Democrat announced it would now be known as the Fauquier Times. The editorial said having the word "Democrat" in the newspaper's name in such partisan political times "is no longer a very astute business decision."
Is it also no longer a very astute business decision to:
• Run off your top skilled veterans because they're over 50?
• Continue to operate out of a building that was designed for 3-4X the current staffing levels?
Tallahassee, you can take your fingers out of your ears now.
I guess they got rid of all their dictionaries. And it's so heartening - and no I am not a Democrat - another newspaper whoring itself out to the lowest common denominator imaginable.
DeleteIf I were the editor of the Fauquier Times-Democrat, I'd put a featured sidebar on the front page regarding the paper's name. Defending its heritage! Explaining the actual meaning of "Democrat" in its name! Heavens, even edifying the reader (imagine that, that long lost purpose!). I'm already gettin' the vapors.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to need to remove the word "Reporter" from several of our papers' names or we're going to get slapped with 'false advertising' lawsuits.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid they'd have to defend using the word 'niggardly'.
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/6xlynv - if you don't remember.