Newspapers aren’t dying; they’re committing seppuku. And it’s their corporate owners who are sharpening their swords.
Such is the plight of Gannett, the parent company of the News Journal. For the last couple of years, all we’ve heard coming out of the nation’s largest newspaper company were stories of layoffs, unpaid furloughs and wage freezes.
So it’s good to know that through all of the pain and misery inflicted on its workers, they were able to grow their profits in the first-quarter by a mere 51%:
Gannett posted net income of $117.2 million, or 49 cents a share, up 51 percent from $77.4 million, or 34 cents a share, in the first quarter 2009.
“All of our business segments delivered substantially higher operating income and operating cash flow in the quarter,” Gannett CEO Craig Dubow said in a statement.
Let’s not forget that around this time last year, a new round of employee furloughs were announced just five days after Gannett disclosed that the board of directors paid $2 million in all-cash 2008 bonuses to CEO Dubow and four other top executives (graphic).
Back in December of 2008, the News Journal laid-off 31 employees, including sports columnist Kevin Noonan, editorial columnist Rita Truschel and writers Al Kemp and Chris Yasiejko. A total of 44 jobs were eliminated, thirteen of which were open at the time of the cuts. Three additional employees volunteered to leave.
Wonder how quickly they’ll be hiring those employees back now that profits are skyrocketing.