Newsquest | Stop the tomato presses!

Buzzfeed's UK edition takes aim at Gannett's South Wales Argus this morning, one of 17 paid dailies in the UK newspaper division, Newsquest, tweeting about "massive news coming out of Wales today." And here it is:

Massive news coming out of Wales today pic.twitter.com/iV34xoNWfU
— BuzzFeed UK (@BuzzFeedUK) October 14, 2013

Newsquest names new CEO to replace Davidson

Gannett's U.K. newspaper division, Newsquest, has hired a new CEO to replace the retiring Paul Davidson.

Walker

Henry Faure Walker comes from Johnston Press, another ailing regional publisher, according to The Guardian's Roy Greenslade. The change is effective April 1. Davidson will continue as the division's chairman.

Newsquest announced the move in a press release dated Friday, which I found on Corporate's website after Greenslade wrote about the change in a post this morning.

The Newsquest release doesn't say whether Walker will replace Davidson on the top-level Gannett Leadership Team led by CEO Gracia Martore. Adding to the confusion, Corporate hasn't issued a release of its own, which is customary for senior executive appointments. (Hello? The Newsquest release doesn't even include a traditional welcome-aboard quote from Martore.)

Davidson

No fan of Gannett, Greenslade notes that a Hold The Front Page reader compared the management change to swapping one doomed ship's sailor for another's.

"So the Lusitania has appointed the Titanic's first mate as its new captain," wrote the commenter, aptly named "Shipwreck."

Davidson's retirement plans were first reported in May.

Newsquest | UK unit leads overall circ declines

The print sales decline of Britain's regional daily newspapers appears to be accelerating. According to the latest ABC figures for the first six months of this year, almost half the 70 titles suffered double-digit falls.

The stand-out poor performer among the publishers was Gannett's UK newspaper division, Newsquest, with nine of its 17 dailies falling by more than 10%, according to Roy Greenslade, who covers media for The Guardian.

"I am sad," he writes, "but not surprised, to report that it was responsible for the season's most spectacular decrease at the Brighton Argus, which saw its circulation collapse by 25.8% compared to the same period in 2012."

Westchester daily eliminates 26 jobs -- 11% of all, pushing Gannett-wide layoffs, other cuts near 300

[Updated at 6:53 a.m. ET with latest figures, East Group details.]

Gannett's newspaper layoffs and other job losses jumped yet higher late yesterday, to an estimated 280 across at least 45 sites, as The Journal News in Westchester officially confirmed it had imposed especially deep cuts.

Hasson

The N.Y. daily said it eliminated 26 jobs -- fully 11% of its workforce. Of those, 17 came from the newsroom, dropping total employment to 206 vs. 232. "The reduction in our payroll is necessary as we adjust to the changing marketplace,” Publisher Janet Hasson told the paper.

This latest round of layoffs is the largest since June 2011, when the company eliminated 700 newspaper jobs. The company had about 18,000 employees in its U.S. Community Publishing division at the end of last year.

The Journal News was one of the larger newspapers that hadn't previously been counted in this spreadsheet showing site-by-site totals. Its weekday circulation is 66,000, and Sunday is 86,000, according to the March 31 AAM report. Indeed, of 82 newspaper sites nationwide, we've heard from just over half. Many of those missing are in the East Group, and have relatively small circulations.

It's important to note that layoffs won't necessarily hit all sites across the USCP. Some have been able to hit cost-cutting targets from Corporate by eliminating travel, page counts and other expenses.

MIA: the East Group
A sampling of other papers still not included at the moment includes many in the East: The News-Press at Fort Myers, Fla.; the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, and The News Journal in Wilmington, Del.

Today's paper, Newseum

As well, I don't have any information about five of the six New Jersey dailies. And beyond Westchester, I haven't seen anything for the other five N.Y. papers. Conspicuously absent, for example, is the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. East President Michael Kane also is publisher of that paper, and his group is based in Rochester.

Officially, at any rate, USA Today isn't included in this round, nor are the 17 dailies in the U.K. Newsquest division. And for the most part, other company divisions have been spared, including the broadcasting division, Gannett Publishing Services and CareerBuilder.

However, Gannett Government Media, publisher of Army Times and other titles, laid off 17 in early July, after ordering third-quarter furloughs just two weeks before.

Gannett, the nation's No. 1 newspaper publisher, employed just under 31,000 worldwide across all divisions at the end of last year, according to the latest published data.

Earlier: Gannett launches stealth round of layoffs; more than 100 expected in days ahead.

Related: Corporate's list of all national and international sites.

Is your site here?
Please check this read-only spreadsheet to see the latest figures for your site. Then post any new information in the comments section, below. Or write confidentially to jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Newsquest | Staff at three dailies vote to strike

Members of the National Union of Journalists working in Glasgow for the U.K. Newsquest newspaper division have voted to strike if the division doesn't back down from is decision to eliminate nearly two dozen jobs.

The company is seeking to axe 20 jobs at The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times when introducing a new production system. Last week it emerged that eight of the roles would be axed through compulsory redundancies, according to Roy Greenslade of The Guardian.

The NUJ's general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, told Greenslade: "Scotland's leading newspapers have faced years of cuts thanks to Newsquest. They have inflicted widespread damage in our industry and they have harmed newspaper titles and quality journalism.

"The ballot result reflects the unity of the chapel and their resolve to stand up for journalism in Scotland. Newsquest should listen to the concerns of its staff and stop treating our members with contempt."

The NUJ is waiting for Newsquest's response to the ballot before naming a date for strike action, according to Greenslade.

Newsquest's 17 dailies and hundreds of weeklies employ 4,300 -- roughly one in seven of GCI's approximately 30,700 employees. The division's chief executive, Paul Davidson, 58, plans to retire this year. GCI bought Newsquest in 1999 for $1.5 billion.

Bulletin: GCI buying TV owner Belo for $1.5B cash; surprise acquisition doubles broadcast presence; GCI shares rocket 28% to new post-recession high

[Updated at 2:12 p.m. ET with latest stock price, other details.]

In a stunning announcement this morning, Gannett said it's agreed to buy television company Belo Corp. for about $1.5 billion in cash, plus assumption of $715 million in debt -- a deal that nearly doubles GCI's current broadcast portfolio, stepping up the media company's push to diversify revenue streams and its geographic footprint.

The acquisition also moves Broadcast Division President Dave Lougee more firmly into the lead position to succeed CEO Gracia Martore over the next three years.

GCI will pay Belo's shareholders $13.75 a share, representing a 28% premium over yesterday's closing price for the Dallas-based company and its 20 stations. Including the assumption of debt, the deal is worth $2.2 billion, according to MarketWatch.

GCI's stock soared on the news: At mid-afternoon, it traded for $25.43 a share, up $5.58, or 28%. That is the highest shares have traded since the depths of the Great Recession in spring 2009, when GCI fell below $2.

"From a strategic standpoint, it's very good news for the company," analyst Michael Kupinski of Noble Financial told USA Today. "It makes Gannett a big player in the industry. Without acquisitions, they could have been marginalized."

The timing is crucial. GCI has been facing a deacceleration in revenue growth beginning in the third quarter. That is when the company cycles against big, one-time increases in print newspaper subscription rates a year ago. What's more, the Broadcast Division faces similarly tough comparables because of the surge in advertising revenue it got from the summer Olympics in London and the presidential election.

GCI said it expects to finance the purchase through cash on hand, accessing the capital markets and bank financing. At the end of the first quarter, however, GCI had just $143 million in cash on hand.

Risky gambit on TV's future
Combined, those forces had Wall Street analysts pressing Martore for details on other growth initiatives. She has consistently promised to consider new investments, especially beyond newspapers, the historic heart of GCI's operations. TV stations were a logical target, amid broader shifts in the media market.

But in doubling down on TV, Martore is gambling on another legacy industry that's facing some of the same challenges decimating newspapers. Viewers and advertisers are moving to mobile and online rivals, including YouTube and Netflix that are now producing original content of their own.

The Belo acquisition raises Gannett's broadcast portfolio to 43 stations from 23, including stations to be serviced through shared services or similar sharing arrangements. (List of Belo stations.)

Lougee

The deal is one of the biggest in GCI's history, rivaling the $2.6 billion cash purchase in 2000 of Central Newspapers, which included The Arizona Republic and The Indianapolis Star.

The acquisition further raises the profile of Lougee, 54, among candidates to succeed Martore, 61; she faces mandatory retirement age in 2016.

Regulatory hurdles ahead
Following the transaction, Corporate said in its statement, GCI’s Broadcast segment is expected to contribute more than half of the company's earnings before interest, taxes and amortization, and the Digital and Broadcast segments combined are expected to contribute nearly two-thirds.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. But it's subject to regulatory approval, including from the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC could express concern about overlapping properties in five three markets where GCI already owns media outlets: Phoenix, home to both KPNX and the Arizona Republic; Tucson, where GCI and Lee Enterprises jointly publish The Arizona Star; St. Louis, where GCI owns KSDK; Louisville, Ky., home to The Courier-Journal, and Portland, Ore., an hour north of Salem, where GCI owns the Statesman Journal.

Generally, a long-standing FCC rule bans companies from owning a TV station and a newspaper in the same market to prevent concentration of media ownership. But the agency has given companies waivers to the rule, such as in Phoenix. GCI and other companies including News Corp. continue opposing the rule.

In the Belo deal, GCI might offer to divest one or more newspapers or TV stations to win FCC approval. For example, that could put Louisville in the crosshairs at a time when investors including financier Warren Buffet are warming to newspapers.

In an FAQ to employees, however, Corporate said the Belo stations in those five markets would be "separately owned," and that GCI would provide support services to them; Corporate didn't identify the future owners of those five, however. In all of the remaining markets, the Belo stations will be fully integrated into the Broadcast division’s operations. (List of GCI's U.S. properties.)

Martore and Lougee are scheduled to brief employees during a 2 p.m. ET "town hall" meeting. A live video stream will be accessible on the GCI's intranet.

Martore hinted at TV deal
In a conference call this morning with stock analysts, Martore said she began talking with her counterpart at Belo, Dunia Shive, some time ago. The two eventually concluded that a merger to create one of the country’s biggest providers of local broadcast television made sense, and eventually began exclusive takeover negotiations, according to The New York Times.

Martore

In late April, Martore told analysts during the first-quarter conference call that Corporate was watching the market for TV stations. "We're getting lots of calls on them. In some situations vis-à-vis overlap situations or other things, they don't necessarily make sense for us to do."

She continued: "But I would say as a general comment, as you know, our broadcast business had its best year in its history last year. We believe conceptually in the fact that more scale and a bigger footprint matters in the broadcast arena. . . . We have very, very good scale now, but improving on that scale could only be a positive going forward. But as always, we would be incredibly disciplined in what we would look at and what multiple we would pay."

In today's announcement, Corporate also said the company will continue its share buyback program and has replaced its existing remaining authorization with a new $300 million authorization expected to be used over the next two years. The company will also continue its existing dividend payment plans.

Belo, originally known as a Texas newspaper company, spun off its newspaper business into a separate publicly traded company called A.H. Belo Corp., which publishes the Dallas Morning News and the Providence Journal, among other papers. Belo now owns 20 television stations and their associated websites, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Dallas paper is also reporting the deal.

In addition to Central Newspapers, GCI's other major acquisitions have included the $1.5 billion cash deal for U.K. newspaper division Newsquest in 1999, and $1 billion for 19 Thomson dailies in Wisconsin, Ohio and Louisiana in 2000.

Related: TV networks face falling ratings and new rivals.

Newsquest | CEO Davidson said preparing to retire

That's according to Manchester radio station Key 103, which today quoted a Gannett spokesman it didn't identify as saying that Newsquest chief Paul Davidson, 58, is in "the early stages of planning his retirement."

Davidson

The station's report didn't give a timetable, however. Gannett has hired The Lygon Partnership to oversee the search for a new boss, and "is understood to be considering external as well as internal candidates for the job," Key said.

Davidson has been CEO since 2001.

Newsquest, which Gannett bought in 1999 for $1.5 billion, publishes 17 paid dailies and hundreds of other free publications in the U.K.

Newsquest | Union says Davidson paid $932K

In an unexpected disclosure, the union representing employees of Gannett's U.K. newspaper division, Newsquest, says CEO Paul Davidson's most recent annual salary was $932,000, a figure that excludes the value of benefits such as stock awards.

Davidson

The National Union of Journalists didn't say where it obtained the salary information, nor did it say what period the figure covered -- only that it was the most recent. Corporate hasn't disclosed Davidson's annual compensation since 2007, the last year for which his pay was high enough to require public disclosure under U.S. securities regulations.

Today, citing the figure, the NUJ said it has begun circulating a petition demanding that Gannett end a four-year wage freeze imposed on Newsquest's 4,300 employees. A Newsquest senior reporter with two years' experience is paid up to $32,000, the NUJ says.

In the U.S., across-the-board wage freezes generally ended more than a year ago as the company's overall finances grew more stable.

In 2007, Davidson got paid $730,000 in salary, according to that year's proxy report to shareholders. With stock options and a change in the value of his pension, Davidson's total compensation that year was $2.4 million.

Corporate's most recent executive compensation report, covering last year, was published two weeks ago. It showed that CEO Gracia Martore was paid $8.5 million, including an $882,692 salary; $1.6 million bonus; $2.9 million stock award, and $2.9 million increase in the value of her pension.

That was up from $4.7 million in 2011, an increase partly due to a one-time change in when certain stock compensation was awarded.

Newsquest publishes more than 200 newspapers, magazines and trade publications including 17 paid-for dailies.

Related: table shows annual 2012 pay to highest-paid executives.

Urgent: Gannett's workforce contracts just 1%; document leaves unanswered USCP questions

Gannett employed 30,700 workers at the end of last year, down just 300 from 2011, according to a new regulatory filing. It was the smallest annual reduction since Corporate began a series of massive layoffs in 2006 as revenue plunged across the newspaper industry.

While overall employment fell just 1%, changes to the workforce varied dramatically by division. And the document, the annual 10-K report yesterday afternoon to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, didn't fully account for some of the changes.

In GCI's biggest operating unit, the 81-daily U.S. community newspaper division, employment totaled 18,100 at the end of 2012, down 2,800, or 13%, from 2011.

But it's unclear where all those job losses took place. The division's figures included Gannett Publishing Services, which handles printing, distribution and other functions for newspapers inside and outside the company. The division doesn't include USA Today, however.

GPS employed 7,200 at the end of 2012, down just 500 positions from 2011, according to the 10-Ks for both years. That suggests the community papers gave up the other 2,300 positions -- a huge loss that hasn't been revealed before now.

Newsquest down, broadcasting flat
The 10-K doesn't detail employment for individual newspapers. The community papers include big titles, such as The Arizona Republic in Phoenix and The Indianapolis Star, plus smaller dailies such as New York's Elmira Star-Gazette and Florida's Pensacola News Journal.

The 17-title U.K. newspaper division, Newsquest, had 4,300 employees at year end, down 4% from 2011.

Broadcasting, which includes 23 TV stations, employed 2,600 at the end of the year -- a 1.1% annual increase, according to the 10-K. (That's puzzling, however; the division also had 2,600 at the end of 2011, according to that year's 10-K.)

CareerBuilder, the employment site, had 2,200 workers at the end of last year, up from 2,000 in 2011. GCI owns slightly more than 50% of CareerBuilder, so counts all its employees as GCI's.

In another sign of workforce stability, GCI hasn't imposed unpaid one-week furloughs during the current quarter. That was a big shift from 2009-2011, when most or all employees were furloughed during the first quarter of each of those three years.

The relative stability to GCI's global workforce in 2012 came as overall revenue rose 2.2%, to $5.35 billion, from 2011 -- the first annual increase since 2006.

Still, last year's employment decline to 30,700 was the seventh consecutive year of reductions. In 2005, the last year the workforce grew, GCI employed 52,600 workers. But that year, the company reported overall revenue of $7.6 billion.

Related: spreadsheet shows annual employment, 1994-2012.

Newsquest | Argus moves; press gets scrapped

The Argus, the daily paper that serves Brighton, is moving from its "unloved offices in a trading estate" on the city's fringes, The Guardian says today.

Citing an Argus story, media writer Roy Greenslade says "the really fascinating aspect of this move" -- not reported by the paper -- is that the unused printing press is being dismantled.

"In other words," he says in a blog post, "there are no buyers for old presses nowadays or, at least, if there are, then no one is prepared to pay more than a scrap metal merchant."

The Argus is one of 17 paid-for dailies and hundreds of other publications published by Gannett's U.K. subsidiary Newsquest.

Newspaper monopolies, and the daily ruling Britain

From "Mail Supremacy,'' an April 2 New Yorker magazine story about the U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper:

In January, its Web arm, Mail Online, surpassed that of the New York Times as the most visited newspaper site in the world, drawing 52 million unique visitors a month.

"At its best," Editor Paul Dacre told the magazine, "American journalism is unbeatable. But the problem with many of your newspapers is that they became too high-minded, too complacent, and self-regarding. As they became increasingly monopolist, some of them also became -- if you’ll forgive the phrase -- too up themselves. They forgot that there’s a huge market out there of people who are serious-minded but also want some fun in their reading.”

Related: Elsewhere in the U.K., Gannett's Newsquest publishes 17 dailies and hundreds of other titles.

Newsquest union members prepared to strike

An overwhelming majority of union-represented Newsquest employees favor a strike over the U.K. newspaper division's refusal to give them a pay raise this year, according to Roy Greenslade of The Guardian newspaper.

The workers haven't gotten raises in three of the past four years, Greenslade said today in a post to his blog.

The National Union of Journalists carried out an "indicative ballot," he wrote. "One question asked: 'Would you support your chapel taking strike action in a dispute with management over a refusal by them to make a pay offer for 2012?'"

Greenslade continues: "The response was 82% in favour with 18% against. A second asked: 'Do you have confidence in Gannett . . . as the owner of Newsquest newspaper titles and associated websites in the UK?' The result of that vote was a stunning 95% saying no and just 5% saying yes."

NUJ members have sparred with Newsquest management repeatedly over the years over issues that also include consolidating page production at regional hubs.

Newsquest includes 17 dailies and hundreds of weekly titles. It employed 4,500 workers at the end of last year, about one in seven of Gannett's total 31,000 workers. The division's employment fell 6% from 2010 vs. a 7% decline in the U.S. newspaper division.

For third year, union representation rate falls

About 11% of Gannett's U.S. employees were represented by labor unions by the end of last year, according to the recently released annual 10-K report to federal securities regulators. That's down from 12% in 2010 and 14% in 2009.

Workers in GCI's U.K. subsidiary, Newsquest, also were represented by unions, but the report doesn't give the percentage.

[Updated at 1:49 p.m. ET on March 11.] GCI's was higher than the nation's overall private sector rate, 7.6%. And it was higher for the publishing industry as a whole, 4.7% (excluding Internet companies), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Across the U.S. in all industries, both public and private, the union membership rate was 11.8%, basically unchanged from 2010, the Bureau says. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the U.S. union membership rate was 20.1%, the Bureau says.

Earlier: Indianapolis Newspaper Guild sees 4% raises in new contract.

Here's 2000-2010 circulation for nearly all dailies

I've just uploaded a spreadsheet showing weekday circulation figures for 77 of Gannett's 81 U.S. community dailies for every year from 2000 through 2010. It's based on data published by the company in annual reports to shareholders, and expands on earlier circulation posts here, here, and here. (Download all the annual reports.)

The list includes every paper the company owned in 2000 that it still owned at the end of 2010. (So, for example, the spreadsheet doesn't include the Detroit Free Press or the Tallahassee Democrat, which GCI didn't buy until 2005.)

And these are only the U.S. community dailies; USA Today and Newsquest titles aren't included. (But Newsquest is coming next.)

It's interesting reading for circulation junkies, or anyone who wants to track the steady print decline of GCI's U.S. newspaper portfolio.

The top weekday percentage circulation loser between 2000 and 2010? Once more, it's the Courier News in Bridgewater, N.J., which ended last year with 18,437 in circulation, down 55% from 41,354 in 2000.

The Spectrum in Utah's St. George recorded the smallest decline: just 12%, falling to 18,875.

The list is sorted alphabetically by state. The paper that lost the most circulation volume across the period, not surprisingly, is the biggest community daily, The Arizona Republic. It fell by 137,235 copies -- or 29% -- to 332,577 the end of last year.

GCI's bigger tumble
Across the nation, weekday circulation fell 18% between 2000-2009, according to the Newspaper Association of America trade group. (The data on its website only goes through 2009.)

Yet, combined circulation for the 77 GCI papers fell 27% in that period.

The gap between the NAA and GCI declines is all the more striking when you consider their very different mix of newspapers:

• The NAA counted 1,387 weekday papers in 2009; 38% of them were weaker afternoon editions, which suffered far greater losses than morning editions. 
• Only 17% of GCI's 77 papers were afternoon editions in 2009, however.

So, why did the NAA group's circulation fall just 18% -- even with all those p.m. papers -- when GCI's fell 27%? That's a question I can't answer.

A big thank you
For this spreadsheet, I'm indebted to a Gannett Blogger who keyed in the data entirely on his own initiative. "I'm an ex-Gannetteer," he wrote, "and had a little time to kill, so I thought I'd expand on your circulation analysis." Having examined his own work, he concluded: "Those are some pretty ugly numbers."

Will 'hacking' be Murdoch's version of rosebud?

"All these years, he’s been a tycoon, a media mogul -- and now it's as if he’s suddenly become Citizen Kane."

-- Roy Greenslade, speaking to The New York Times about Rupert Murdoch's influence over British politicians. Greenslade is a frequent critic of Gannett and its U.K. newspaper operations. He blogs about media for London's Guardian, which has been leading coverage of a phone-hacking scandal at newspapers owned by News Corp., which Murdoch and his family control.

(Rosebud?)

Related: Media critic Howard Kurtz says Murdoch's News of the World "didn’t exactly discover phone hacking. Back in 1998, the Cincinnati Enquirer paid $10 million and apologized to Chiquita Brands after a reporter obtained voice-mail messages from a company executive 'in violation of the law,' the paper acknowledged."

Newsquest | Strike ends amid reports of deal

From a post today by Roy Greenslade at The Guardian of London:

Journalists working for Newsquest/Gannett in South London have called off their campaign of industrial action after reaching an "amicable agreement" with management at GCI's U.K. newspaper subsidiary.

The mother of the National Union of Journalists' chapel, Thais Portilho-Shrimpton, said the company had agreed to replace any vacancies that occur over the next six months and to retain two extra editorial positions.

The company's offer was accepted by the majority of the 33 NUJ members who were mid-way through a four-day strike.

The agreement follows the harmonious end to a dispute in north London, between NUJ members and Tindle Newspapers. The company agreed to reverse its policy of non-replacement of staff.

Newsquest | In strike, bosses said changing venue

[Strikers dressed as cowboys to spotlight "Wild West" of publishing]

Newsquest managers changed the location -- twice -- for a "think tank'' meeting today, rather than face unionized employees conducting a two-day strike of the Gannett U.K. newspaper subsidiary, a Guardian report says today. The meeting was to include 11 Newsquest managers, says Guardian media columnist Roy Greenslade.

The two-day strike by employees at papers in Sutton and Twickenham is protesting a proposal to close the papers' sports and leisure department, costing nine jobs, according to Greenslade.

The picketers, members of the National Union of Journalists, dressed in cowboy costumes "in order to highlight the Wild West nature of current newspaper ownership," Greenslade said yesterday.

His column continued: "NUJ members are becoming ever more inventive to publicise their plight. Two months ago, journalists in Enfield working for Tindle Newspapers staged a mock funeral as a way of demonstrating to local people the danger their papers were facing."

About Newsquest
The division employs about one in seven of Gannett's 32,600 global employees -- a total of 4,800 -- at 17 dailies and hundreds of weeklies. Newsquest cut nearly 6% of its jobs last year, according to GCI's just-filed annual 10-K statement to U.S. regulators. GCI bought the U.K. operation in the summer of 1999 for about $1.5 billion.

Related: see the NUJ's strike blog.

[Photo: NUJ]

USAT | Why we care about the tail wagging the dog

Although Gannett publishes nearly 100 daily newspapers, Wall Street focused on the financial health of only one -- USA Today -- during a much-anticipated conference call with top management yesterday, after the release of a weak first-quarter earnings report.

No wonder. The information management shared about USAT -- and unexpectedly withheld -- is of great interest to tens of thousands of employee shareholders. And it explains why Publisher Dave Hunke is feeling extra pressure to make the latest reorganization succeed.

USAT has typically accounted for 10% of GCI's overall publishing revenue -- that's advertising and circulation -- according to Edward Atorino, a newspaper industry analyst at Benchmark Co.; he gave that estimate to an Associated Press reporter late last month. In print advertising alone, USAT accounted for perhaps 7% of GCI's $2.7 billion in publishing advertising last year, according to information I've obtained.

COO Gracia Martore alluded to USAT's outsized role in the company's finances during the question-and-answer session of yesterday's conference call. But she and CEO Craig Dubow were nonetheless cagey in their responses.

Few companies relish sharing bad news with investors. And the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gives companies latitude on what to disclose. Yet, Corporate is moving toward even more opacity, leaving investors even more in the dark about GCI's biggest property.

Don't ask, don't tell
For example, analyst Douglas Arthur of Evercore Partners yesterday asked for the number of USAT's advertising pages during the quarter vs. a year ago. In a departure from long-standing practice, Martore said she would no longer provide those figures.

"They really don't reflect the totality of the platforms that USA Today has,'' she said, according to Seeking Alpha's transcript. "USA Today is not just a print product; it is a combination of print, web, mobile, iPad -- a lot of different devices. And so I think we will, in the future, just be reporting on their total results rather than giving out just pages, which is only one part of their distribution."

It's hardly surprising Martore wouldn't want to discuss USAT's ad pages. Last year, they totaled 2,299, down from 2,327 in 2009 and 3,158 in 2008, according to SEC filings. Martore also doesn't want to disclose advertising revenue at the company's top daily: Without explanation or warning, she stopped reporting such details in last year's second quarter.

Martore concedes only that USAT, more than the community dailies and the U.K.'s Newsquest division, had a slightly bigger role in dragging down GCI's overall first-quarter results.

She says the paper is still being "impacted" by weak spending in one of its bread-and-butter categories -- travel -- even though that market has "seemingly bottomed out." Higher fuel prices won't help. And she told the conference call the paper is doing a "very good job" in trying to wring more dollars from its travel "vertical," a website devoted to business and leisure travel information.

Numbers: iPadding them?
Meanwhile, USAT's iPad application continues to do "a good job in attracting advertising,'' she said in a response to a question. She offered no further details, however, and added: "That's something that's under constant review here."

Dubow's response wasn't very illuminating, either. "The numbers that are moving toward that and continuing to stay with the iPad, I think are going to be very interesting as we move forward," he said. "It's a very positive environment and with a number of awards and other things that month-by-month we seem to be winning on that. People seem quite satisfied with the offering and that's just going to continue to grow. So we're really excited by that."

As for any other of the total USAT results Martore promised, the earnings statement offered a handful of clues.

"National advertising declined 10.5% in the quarter, reflecting softer advertising demand at USA Today that, although lower overall, was volatile within the quarter," the statement said. "There was strong growth in the telecommunications and credit card categories in the quarter for USA Today, while several key categories including the entertainment, travel and technology categories declined compared to last year."

In response to a question, Martore said travel was "several percentage points of their total revenues." Indeed, it was in the neighborhood of 10% toward the end of last year, well down from around 17% in 2008.

On the other hand, USAT's digital revenues were 19.2% higher -- better than the companywide 12% during the quarter, the statement said.

'Big steps' -- and risks
In 2010, after a round of layoffs, USAT made money -- but just barely. The paper "squeezed out a profit last year because of the cost cutting,'' the March 23 Associated Press story said, citing an interview with Hunke, who wouldn't provide specifics.

Hunke

Hunke, 58, was named publisher two years ago this month, arriving as the paper's circulation began a steep slide, dropping to 1.8 million from 2.3 million. In his interview with the Associated Press, he predicted USAT this year would boost revenue and circulation. That would be the first time both categories have gained in four years, the AP said.

"The idea that you can take incremental steps in the media business is over," Hunke told the news service. "You have to take some big steps and you have to take some risks."

GCI's shares have been drifting down since mid-February; they closed today at $15.17, off 1.4%, after a 4% jump yesterday. They closed at $17.18 on Feb. 10. (Historical prices over the past 12 months.)

Arthur, the Evercore Partners analyst, remains concerned about GCI's prospects after what he says was a surprisingly weak first quarter. USAT is one of his worries, according to a new MarketWatch story today.

Gannett’s management, he told clients, “did not specifically address the substantial declines in the U.K. as well as the lack of traction at USA Today," according to MarketWatch. "It’s hard to see the stock topping our $17 target price in convincing fashion without any clarity on how these two critical properties might improve."

More than ever, clarity is in short supply.

Earlier: My live-blogged post of yesterday's conference call.

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

Lougee and Davidson profit $470K in stock options, documents show, even as GCI shares lag industry

Two years ago, the board of directors awarded top executives a pile of stock options at a rock-bottom price: $3.75 a share. Now, regulatory documents show two of those executives have once more cashed them in for six-figure profits.

The options were part of their 2008 annual pay, and allowed recipients to buy shares from the company for a so-called "strike price" of $3.75 each, no matter how high the shares trade in the open market. (Gannett's five highest-paid executives in 2008.)

Many U.S. companies use options to tie executive pay to the interests of shareholders. But pay-for-stock performance doesn't always work that way. In the recently filed annual 10-K report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Corporate acknowledged that for the third consecutive year, GCI's stock fared worse in 2010 than shares of the overall newspaper industry.

The 2008 options became the executives' property, or "vest," in four equal annual installments starting Feb. 25, 2010. At the time they were granted, GCI was trading for less than $3.75 a share, as the broader newspaper industry neared collapse.

Options are only valuable when a company's stock trades above the strike price. In that regard, many thousands of options granted to current GCI executives over the years are worthless.

Late last month, the two executives both "exercised" their options the same date they vested:

Lougee

Dave Lougee, president of the 23-station TV broadcasting division, sold 21,250 shares at $16.25 each, according to this filing with the SEC. His profit before taxes: $265,625.

A year ago, Lougee sold 10,625 optioned shares at $16.18, for a profit of $132,069.

Davidson

Paul Davidson, CEO of the U.K. Newsquest newspaper division, sold 16,250 at a slightly higher amount, $16.29 each, this SEC filing shows. His profit before taxes: $203,775.

A year ago, Davidson also sold 16,250 at $15.89, for a profit of nearly $200,000.

In 2010, Newsquest's 17 dailies and hundreds of weeklies once more laid off scores of employees, reducing division-wide employment nearly 6%, to 4,800. Overall, GCI-wide employment fell 7%, to 32,600.

GCI's stock closed yesterday at $15.59 a share, up nine cents. It's now down about 4% from a year ago, however, while the broader S&P 500 index is up nearly 15% in the same period, according to Google Finance. (Chart compares their 12-month performance.)

Within the next two weeks, Corporate is expected to reveal details of 2010 annual pay to Lougee, Davidson, CEO Craig Dubow and other senior executives.

Earlier: Board awards second wave of 2010 stock awards. Plus: Amid layoffs, an estimated 229 jobs have been cut in the current quarter

Guardian: Newsquest boss 'rakes in the money'

Roy Greenslade of The Guardian in London takes Newsquest boss Paul Davidson to task on his blog today, citing the latest round of executive bonuses at a time of layoffs at Gannett's U.K. newspaper division.

Earlier: Board hands more than one million options to top executives