By Jon Gingerich
Gannett Co. is slashing 700 staffers from its 82-member newspaper group, an amount that accounts for two percent of its overall workforce.
The cuts are the largest since July 2009, when Gannett sliced 1,500 jobs. It is the fourth layoff since summer 2008.
In 2010, Gannett employed 32,600 workers. News of the layoffs comes soon after several austerity measures were introduced at the company to cut costs.
Many newspaper employees took a week-long unpaid furlough during the most recent quarter, and practically every company employee was forced to take a similar furlough during the first quarter.
In a June 21 memo, Gannett U.S. newspaper unit president Bob Dickey blamed the need for job cuts on economic conditions.
"National advertising remains soft and with many of our local advertisers reducing their overall budgets, we need to take further steps to align our costs with the current revenue trends," Dickey wrote.
Gannett Co. came under fire earlier this year after the New York Times reported that its CEO Craig Dubow received a salary of $9.4 million in 2010, which was almost twice what he earned in 2009.
He also received a $1.25 million cash bonus, based in part on his success in reducing company costs through layoffs. |