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The Gannett Company, owner of the nation’s largest newspaper chain, will go through another round of layoffs soon, with an announcement possible in the next few days, executives said Tuesday. The company’s United States and British newspaper divisions eliminated more than 10,000 jobs in 2007 and 2008, including about 2,000 layoffs last fall, and Gannett executives have said repeatedly that they expect more downsizing, including layoffs. The company, which also owns a chain of television stations and Internet ventures, ended last year with 41,500 employees, including 35,800 in its newspaper divisions. On Gannett Blog, a former Gannett editor who closely...

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI - News) today said it will cease print publication of the Tucson Citizen. The Citizen will continue operating its web site, www.tucsoncitizen.com. The last print edition of the Citizen will be published on Saturday, May 16. “Dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy – particularly in this region – mean it is no longer viable to produce two daily printed newspapers in Tucson,” said Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. Community Publishing division of Gannett. “We are pleased that the Citizen’s web site will continue its role as a place for a...

The dividend aristocrats index has had five dividend cuts so far this year. Because of the way that the index is rebalanced, the dividend cutters will remain a part of the elite basket of S&P 500 companies which have consistently raised their dividends for over 25 consecutive years. Unless a member of the Dividend Aristocrats index is removed from the S&P 500, it won’t be removed from the elite income index. The five companies, which cut dividends so far in 2009, will most likely be booted out of the index at the annual December reconstitution. Back in February, General Electric...

Gannett's Woes: Revenue Fall Accelerates Gannett Co. television revenues will continue to sink at a double-digit percentage rate in the coming months. This follows lower revenue trends that the company's TV stations had in the first quarter. Broadcasting revenues for the first quarter 2009 were $143.5 million, compared to $170.2 million in the first quarter of 2008 -- a 15.7% decline. Operating income for its broadcasting businesses sank 24% to $44 million. Much of the drop comes from the absence of political advertising versus a year ago, and from weaker ad sales from the automotive and retail categories. Some of...

Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., reported a 60 percent decline in first-quarter profit Thursday and said the decline in its advertising revenue is accelerating. Gannett, which publishes USA Today ... ad revenue shrunk by 33.5 percent. USA Today's total number of paid ad pages in the quarter fell to 527, from 826 a year ago.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Many U.S. hotel chains like to offer USA Today, The Wall Street Journal or their local newspaper as a courtesy to guests. Marriott International Inc will offer a different courtesy: no paper at all. Marriott said on Monday that it will stop dropping daily papers automatically at its guests' doors. Now, it will offer them a choice of papers or, if they want, no paper at all. Based on preliminary data, Marriott projects that this will reduce newspaper distribution by about 50,000 copies daily, or 18 million annually. Beginning June 1, guests at the company's full-service...

Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA Today, said he plans to retire April 17 after more than 23 years at Gannett Co. (GCI). No replacement has been named. Moon also supervises USA Weekend, the Detroit Media Partnership, Gannett Offset and the Military Times operation. Gannett owns 85 U.S. newspapers, more than 850 magazines and nondailies, and 23 television stations. USA Today, started in 1982, is the nation's largest circulation daily. Like other media companies, Gannett has been suffering from sharp drops in advertising and readers moving to the Internet for ads, news and entertainment. At a recent conference with...

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090324/GPG0101/90324138/1978

Marshal Wyatt Earp's fabled 1881 shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone was reported this way: "A day when blood flowed as water, and human life was held as a shuttlecock, a day always to be remembered as witnessing the bloodiest and the deadliest street fight that has ever occurred in this place, or probably in the territory." For nearly 140 years, the Tucson Citizen has told the stories of Southern Arizona, but on Saturday, March 21, the state's oldest newspaper will tell its last -- its own. Gannett Co. Inc., the nation's largest newspaper publisher, announced in January it...

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...