Free Republic

Gannett Co. (GCI) said late Wednesday its board cut the quarterly dividend to 4 cents from 40 cents because of the recession and stale credit markets. The newspaper operator hopes to use the annual savings of $325 million to pay down debt. The dividend is payable April 1 to shareholders of record as of March 6.

Gannett Co. (GCI) , the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, said Friday that it will take fourth-quarter non-cash charges of as much as $5.2 billion, after taxes, related to a reduction in the value of its assets as a result of the worldwide financial meltdown. On a preliminary basis, Gannett says its profit fell 36% to $158 million, or 69 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 28, compared to year-earlier net income of $245.3 million, or $1.06 a share. Preliminary results in the latest three months include $24.4 million in severance and facility consolidation costs. Gannett expects to take...

The Tucson Citizen, Arizona’s oldest newspaper, is going to close down by March 21 unless a buyer is found before then. And frankly, nobody’s buying newspapers these days. The Gannett-owned newspaper is run under a joint operating agreement with the Arizona Daily Star and is the first U.S.-Mexico border newspaper to announce its impending demise. Three other newspapers along the border have cut back operations, laid employees off and cut back benefits in an attempt to save themselves. This morning, the San Antonio Express-News announced it’s going to offer employees a one year unpaid leave of absence, institute a hiring...

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) today said it is offering to sell certain assets of the Tucson (AZ) Citizen. If a sale is not completed by March 21, 2009, Gannett said it will have to close the newspaper. "The Tucson Citizen has been part of Gannett since 1976 and we deeply regret having to take this step. But dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy - particularly in this region - mean it is no longer viable for our partnership with Lee Enterprises Incorporated to produce two daily newspapers in Tucson," said Bob Dickey, president of the U.S....

TUCSON, Ariz. - Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the country, will close the Tucson Citizen if it does not find a buyer for certain assets owned by the paper by March 21. Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, made the announcement in a brief meeting with employees Friday. "The Tucson Citizen has been part of Gannett since 1976, and we deeply regret having to take this step," Dickey said. "But dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy _ particularly in this region _ mean it is no longer viable for our partnership...

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across the United States including its flagship USA Today, said it could not say exactly how many people would be required to take time off, or how much money the company would save. But it said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees in this country. Also on Wednesday, USA Today notified its staff of a one-year pay...

The news that the Gannett Company--the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, flagship USA Today--is forcing thousands of its employees to take unpaid leave is the latest, shocking, evidence of the ill health of the old media. But for present purposes, let's focus on this odd nugget: Gannett has informed its employees that pursuant to federal and state law, they [emphasis added]: must not work while on an unpaid leave. That includes reading or responding to e-mails, calling or responding to calls from colleagues and being on site at your location at any time during your furlough days. Can't you just imagine...

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across the United States including its flagship USA Today, said it could not say exactly how many people would be required to take time off, or how much money the company would save. But it said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees. “Most of our U.S. employees — including myself and all other top executives — will...

Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N), the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, will make workers take a week off without pay because of what it called some of the most difficult economic conditions it has ever experienced. "This means that most of our U.S. employees -- including myself and all other top executives -- will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter," Chief Executive Craig Dubow wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday. Gannett, which publishes USA Today, the largest U.S. newspaper by circulation, is instituting the furlough after cutting thousands of employees from its payroll to...

Beset by falling revenue, Detroit's newspapers announced Tuesday that they plan to offer only three days of home delivery and will push their online editions instead, making the city the largest in the nation to undergo such a makeover. The Detroit Media Partnership, which runs the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, expects to cut about 9 percent of its work force but "hopefully" less, and there will be no job reductions in the newsrooms of either paper, said David Hunke, Free Press publisher and chief executive of the partnership. "We're here because we're fighting for our survival," Hunke...

The Detroit News...and another Detroit daily newspaper, the Free Press, are expected to announce next week that they will halt home delivery of the two papers most days of the week... The move comes in the wake of a 22 percent circulation decline at the News and 15 percent at the Free Press over the last five years. Staff cuts are also likely.... The Free Press is owned by Gannett Co., Inc In the face of the worst business climate for daily newspapers in decades, with steep declines in advertising and rising business costs, other U.S. dailies have examined steps...

The publisher of the Detroit Free Press, the country's 20th largest paper by weekday circulation, is expected to announce next week that it will cease home delivery of the print edition of the newspaper on most days of the week, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking. The publisher hasn't made a final decision, said this person, but the leading scenario set to be unveiled Tuesday would call for the Free Press and its partner paper, the Detroit News, to end home delivery on all but the most lucrative days—Thursday, Friday and Sunday. On the other days, the...

Newspaper publisher Gannett said on Wednesday it expects its 2008 revenue to fall to $6.8 billion from $7.4 billion last year, underscoring what is shaping up to be the worst advertising market in decades. The publisher of newspapers such as USA Today also told attendees of a UBS investor conference that it expects to shoulder severance costs of $45 million to $50 million in the current quarter for its previously announced plan to cut 10 percent of its workforce. "We're focusing on leaner operations across the board," Chief Executive Craig Dubow told attendees during a Webcast of the conference two...

The nation's largest newspaper company, USA Today publisher Gannett Co., has begun implementing a 10 percent work force cut announced in October in response to declining revenue. Employees at some of the company's 85 local and regional papers learned Monday and Tuesday what cuts will occur at their publications. The latest reductions follow a 3 percent cut announced in August. Both cuts are separate from a 5 percent trim from USA Today's newsroom announced Nov. 24. A spokeswoman for McLean, Va.-based Gannett did not immediately return calls seeking comment Tuesday. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in New York said Tuesday...

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says it is eliminating 59 jobs, or 8% of its work force, to pare back costs during the weak economy. The daily newspaper says it will lay off 34 employees later this week and has already accepted 14 voluntary reductions, 3 of them in the newsroom. In addition, it says 11 open positions will not be filled. The newspaper has not yet specified how many of the layoffs will occur in the newsroom. After the cuts are made, it will have 680 full-time and part-time employees. Publisher Ali Zoibi says rising costs and a drop...

Memo sent to USA Today staffers on Nov. 23 To: The newsroom staff From: Ken Paulson and John Hillkirk The current economic crisis has taken its toll on businesses nationwide, including USA TODAY. This will mean a cut in our 2009 budget, including the elimination of about 20 positions in early December. We wish this wasn't necessary, but we're facing unprecedented economic challenges and we have to cut spending. We'll have our regular monthly staff meeting Monday at 5 p.m. EST and will discuss this development and answer any questions you may have, but here are the basics: Those whose...

Reeling from a second consecutive quarter of revenue losses, Gannett just announced plans to lay off 10% of its newspaper employees -- about 3,000 workers -- by early December, as the nation's top newspaper publisher struggles to right itself. The mass layoff was disclosed in a memo from newspaper division president Bob Dickey (left). The unprecedented cuts follow the elimination of more than 1,000 jobs over the past two months in Gannett's biggest and most troubled unit: the community newspaper division. Its 84 dailies plus USA Today account for nearly 80% of revenue, and 65% of GCI's 46,000 employees. The...

Gannett Co Inc, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, reflecting anemic print advertising sales across the industry. Shares fell as much as 9 percent shortly after trading began on the New York Stock Exchange, a move reflected by major indices including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which dropped near 400 points after U.S. markets opened. The results cap more than a week of stomach-churning ad declines at U.S. publishers Media General Inc, McClatchy Co and New York Times Co. The worsening world financial crisis is aggravating the already weakened state of U.S. newspapers, which have...

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI - News) reported today that 2008 third quarter earnings per diluted share from continuing operations were $0.69 compared with $1.01 per share in the third quarter of 2007. The results for the quarter include $23.0 million in pre-tax severance expenses ($14.4 million after tax or $0.07 per share) related to reductions in force and efficiency efforts in the U.S. and the UK. Absent severance expenses in the quarter, the company would have earned $0.76 per share.

On a bad day for newspaper stocks, shares of Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) sank Wednesday to their lowest price in 18 years. Gannett tumbled 11.25% during the session, shaving $1.18 off its share price to close at $9.31 a share. It price, adjusted for splits and dividends, hasn't been that low since October 1990. Gannett is scheduled to release its third-quarter results on Friday morning. Based on the weak revenue figures already released by The McClatchy Co. and Media General, Wall Street is clearly not expecting good news from the nation's largest newspaper publisher. Shares of The New York Times...