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Tampa Bay Times to begin employee buyouts
Tampa Tribune ^ | 03/06/14 | Richard Mullins | Tribune Staff

Posted on 03/06/2014 5:59:33 AM PST by shortstop

The Tampa Bay Times newspaper will begin offering buyouts to current workers in advance of a round of layoffs, according to company memos posted online.

This comes as the St. Petersburg-based newspaper faces increasing financial strain and works with business consultants to “improve the company’s financial results.”

Employees will have between March 10 and 24 to consider the packages, which could include up to 13 weeks of severance, plus two extra weeks, according to a memo sent to employees by Human Resources Director Sebastian Dortch that was posted on the website of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns the Times.

“Even if you are not interested, this is an opportunity to take stock of your place in the Times’ future,” Dortch wrote. “This is an important time to understand where you stand.” After the buyout phase, “it is clear that this work will result in some job reductions around the company.”

The Times has been working to sell news bureaus, extra parking lots, the employee cafeteria and other assets to raise cash in recent years, and last December, the company took out a $28 million loan from a non-traditional lender, Boston-based Crystal Financial LLC. Half that amount went to pay off current debts and the full loan comes due in December 2016.

Both the Times and Poynter have seen their financial position strained in recent years, as have many media companies. The Times saw its Sunday circulation fall about 6 percent to 355,853, and daily circulation fall 4 percent Monday through Friday to 299,985, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.

The Times already conducted a round of layoffs in 2011 and temporarily cut pay in 2012. The company’s most recent loan is backed by a half dozen parcels of real estate, including the company’s headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg, part of which the Times recently made available for lease.

Times spokeswoman Jounice Nealy-Brown declined to answer questions about the moves, but sent a statement, reading, “We are finding some ways to improve our results without compromising our quality. We want to support the colleagues whose jobs will be affected.”


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: dbm; fl; florida; pravda; stpetersburg; tampabaytimes
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The good news keeps on coming. Just another proof that liberals just can't run things.
1 posted on 03/06/2014 5:59:33 AM PST by shortstop
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To: shortstop

The bay area isn’t large enough to support two papers, the Times and the Trib...


2 posted on 03/06/2014 6:04:34 AM PST by ken5050 (I fear a world run by adults who were never spanked as kids and got trophies just for participating)
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To: ken5050

Where did they get the cash to buy the naming rights for the hockey rink then?


3 posted on 03/06/2014 6:09:40 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Bwahahahyahaha! LIBs appear either to be awakening and not buying that rag or more of them can’t read.


4 posted on 03/06/2014 6:11:11 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: shortstop
The Tampa Bay Times, formerly the St. Petersburg Times aka Pravda West.

It threw itself under the Obama bus.

Leni

5 posted on 03/06/2014 6:12:19 AM PST by MinuteGal
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To: shortstop

St. Petersburg, err, Tampa Bay Times, Pravda Florida keeps falling. Unfortunately, our local rag, the Lakeland Ledger, has picked up many columnists columns from the TB Times. If it weren’t for the local section of the Ledger, I’d cancel in a heartbeat. (They, the Ledger, charge to read on-line if you’re not a subscriber)


6 posted on 03/06/2014 6:16:45 AM PST by Road Warrior ‘04 (Molon Labe! (Oathkeeper))
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Long time ago..when papers were flush..


7 posted on 03/06/2014 6:18:48 AM PST by ken5050 (I fear a world run by adults who were never spanked as kids and got trophies just for participating)
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To: shortstop

Die, Commie Rag, Die


8 posted on 03/06/2014 6:22:33 AM PST by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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To: shortstop

I’m hoping their first cost cutting measure will be to dump their entire editorial page staff. Then we can stop reading about how George Bush, Rick Scott and David Jolly- bad and Barack Obama and Alex Sink- good.


9 posted on 03/06/2014 6:23:19 AM PST by shortstop (It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful)
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To: shortstop
Fun flashback: Tampa Bay Times endorses Obama

TBT: Obama for President

excerpt:

By many measures, the economy is improving steadily even if growth remains painfully slow. There have been 31 straight months of job growth, and more than 5 million private sector jobs have been created. The unemployment rate is down to 7.8 percent — not great, but the same as when Obama took office. The stock market has come back, new housing starts are the highest in four years and housing prices in Tampa Bay and other areas are rising. The financial industry is stable, interest rates remain low and corporate profits are healthy. There is still too much economic pain, but America is better off than most of the rest of the industrialized world.

Da! Is good!

10 posted on 03/06/2014 6:26:57 AM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: shortstop

The smart ones will take the buyouts before TBT runs out of money.


11 posted on 03/06/2014 7:01:13 AM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: JulieRNR21; kinganamort; katherineisgreat; floriduh voter; summer; Goldwater Girl; windchime; ...

Florida Freeper

I'm compiling a list of FReepers interested in Florida-related topics.
If you want to be added, please FReepMail me.

12 posted on 03/06/2014 7:18:15 AM PST by Joe Brower (The "American People" are no longer capable of self-governance.)
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To: shortstop

Why? According to Obama and the Democrats, the economy is booming. Their circulation should be going through the sky. They should be hiring. Again, why?


13 posted on 03/06/2014 7:21:58 AM PST by sport
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To: sport
"Their circulation should be going through the sky. They should be hiring. Again, why?"

Why? Maybe when your editorial policy pi$$es off half of your potential client base, you stand to lose a lot of potential customers. I live in Pinellas County but I subscribe to the Tampa Tribune. Not an overly conservative paper but definitely middle of the road. I start my day in a much better mood after quitting the Times.

14 posted on 03/06/2014 8:01:52 AM PST by shortstop (It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful)
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To: shortstop; Joe Brower; MinuteGal; SoFloFreeper; left that other site; Joe Boucher; ...


15 posted on 03/06/2014 8:17:12 AM PST by Old Sarge (TINVOWOOT: There Is No Voting Our Way Out Of This)
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To: shortstop

I left the Tribune about 5 years ago. Haven’t missed it yet and 50 years from now I will still be able to day ,”I haven’t missed it yet”.


16 posted on 03/06/2014 8:20:52 AM PST by sport
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To: shortstop

Most of the columnists/contributors appear liberal....even if they claim to be Republican. This is a poor excuse for a newspaper. imho, the majority of the stories they write are either blatantly biased or written in a way to imply any Republican is ‘bad’.


17 posted on 03/06/2014 9:44:11 AM PST by 4integrity
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To: Bushbacker1

Most likely they place a restriction based on IP address. You can probably use a free IP Address mask like http://www.anchorfree.com/ and not bother paying for content that has no intrinsic value.

When you’ve used up your free articles on an IP address, just log off and back in again to your VPN and you’ll look like another visitor to the website.


18 posted on 03/06/2014 10:10:25 AM PST by Go_Raiders (Freedom doesn't give you the right to take from others, no matter how innocent your program sounds.)
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To: ken5050

Aren’t enough sheeple able to read, I bet Jeantel subscribes though, for the grocery coupons.


19 posted on 03/06/2014 10:43:59 AM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: shortstop

“This comes as the St. Petersburg-based newspaper faces increasing financial strain and works with business consultants to “improve the company’s financial results.”

I’m still waiting for the politicians to start rebuking businesses who say this with the “Business is meant for public service, not private profit”>


20 posted on 03/06/2014 11:21:09 AM PST by RWB Patriot ("My ability is a value that must be earned and I don't recognize anyone's need as a claim on me.")
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