Gannett Voluntary Buyouts

Lancey specified beat-based reporting. That is an important distinction from the radio host who is often also a former (sometimes current) sports columnist.

 

Right. And it doesn't hurt to throw in some conservative commentary, too.

 

The earnings were released today.

Some highlights:

Gannett did better this quarter. Revenues were only down 19.6% on a same store basis as compared to 28% in the second quarter. Digital revenues were down 13% so the transformation to e-publishing does not appear to be going well.

The company lost 28 million dollars in the quarter. They limited their losses because they assumed that in the future the investments in their pension plan will do better, reducing their future pension liabilities by about 18 million dollars and allowing them to bump up profit by that amount. Their financial team is an optimistic bunch. Earlier in the fiscal year they had booked 36 million dollars in profits using the same logic.

The company had promised to pay hundreds of millions dollars this year in debt but has barely paid anything. They said they would sell more real estate (the company has been selling real estate for years. How many buildings are left?) and "non-core assets". "Non-core assets" could mean selling newspapers outside of geographic (because "non-core" means whatever management wants) such as Indiana, most of Wisconsin and other locations where Gannett basically owns all the papers and can not achieve economies from the centralization of production.

 

How are the other chains doing in the quarter? All's been quiet it seems in reading this board. Have the hedge funds changed to where they now are investing in product? Or are they still despicable?

 

Who actually took the buyout? We should be hearing by now.

 

No one can (or is willing to) answer my question: Will there be layoffs in December if Gannett doesn't hit the numbers it wanted from the buyouts. I would assume there will be.

 

December? Probably not. Early first quarter, maybe.

I've heard that they're turning people down, though, which would indicate this is more targeted and they just covered their asses by making it available to anyone.

 

I was told by my supervisor that he had veto power. I don't know if that was a pre-emptive warning or him lamenting the responsibility.

 

About 500 people are taking buyouts at Gannett - Poynter

 

Veto power … over the buyouts or potential layoffs?

 

Tribune did about the same as Gannett. Lee has not reported.

 

Buyouts