CNHI AND K-R rumor

It maybe like these viable papers are bought on the courthouse steps.
Gannett papers may be at more risk in terms of the individual's pay scale than CNHI, which uses the McDonalds entry-level table for salaries. They can't go much lower than minimum wage.

 

As someone in the Tribune chain, which filed Chapter 11 back in December, I can say a few things.

1. If you're a regular writer/copy editor/designer, you will probably not feel much of a difference as far as your day-to-day job goes. Your company will not simply cease to exist. One of the first things that happen is that the company will file motions that basically make sure the company can run itself while going through the bankruptcy court.

2. With that said, anything the company can do to save money, it will. Maybe this is just the Trib chain, but if your shop still does faxes, they'll tell you to cut down on them if possible. That's outgoing and incoming. Printer paper is going to become hard to find. Oh, and pens. They'll encourage you to bring in your own pens because they aren't ordering any more. Anything to save money.

3. All of the personnel cuts will continue to happen. There is always more to cut. Even if it's not fat, they'll start cutting meat. Maybe that means regional design hubs or, in our case, modules designed elsewhere shipped to localities.

Obviously the Tribune chapter 11 case hasn't been settled yet. Maybe the worst is still to come. Who knows.

 

Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I worked for Harte-Hanks in Texas, who then sold to a bozo named Sutherland who promptly ran our newspaper into the ground and ultimately into bankruptcy. Us grunts did not feel much of the effect at first, but management of our newspaper was turned over to a "consulting" firm and the nightmares began. Our upper management was fired and they brought in people that were just clueless. It took years for that newspaper to recover. Several years ago they were bought by CNHI and history appears to be repeating itself.

No one will celebrate more than I when CNHI goes belly-up. I was a publisher in that chain for a year and it was a living hell. Every quarter when the interest note was due to the Alabama teacher retirement system, suddenly I start getting calls from every vendor and utility company I deal with about late payments, getting our electricity cut off, not paying the postage bill, etc. Certainly made us look very good in the community.

Funny story. A publisher friend of mine in a small community was turning a nice revenue printing outside jobs of several weeklies. It resulted in several grand per month in revenue for his paper. CNHI brilliantly goes in and rips his press out to create a larger cluster-fuck printing location. So now he has no press and the several thousand a month in revenue he was turning is lost. CNHI comes in at budget time and, seeing revenue down, asks him what he's going to do to bring revenues back up. He tries to reason with them, to no avail. Finally, seeing what kind of buffoons he's dealing with, he stands up from his desk, takes the company car key and building key off his keyring, tosses them to Kevin Kampman, the head CNHI jackoff at the time, tells him to go fuck himself and walks out leaving Kampman and the other dipshit sitting there.

 

that's just classic ... and i can totally see that happening -- bean counters who know nothing about what goes on day to day ...

 

One of the best stories ever.
What's your friend doing now? Just curious. I'd like to shake his hand.

 

I've got people guessing that CNHI will just continue cutting, following Gannett's model (regional desks, earlier deadlines, screwing sports coverage in the ass) and do everything else they can do to slash and burn, before approaching a courtroom on anything. They may be there well before hand if someone can prove that the heart attack that drove their CNHI employed spouse to death was work-related.