Post-Dispatch buyouts

I'm pretty sure Bill Coats is over 50. Don't know about anybody else.

 

It's owned by a pretty good chain. I don't know if any other Lee papers are offering buyouts, but I haven't heard about any.

 

So, basically, because of $500,000 lost on the bottom line that still had a $22.5 million profit, people lose their jobs. Fuckabuncha corporate suits.

 

Well said. That was my point when our publisher met with the newsroom about job cuts at my old shop. These idiots think they can cut themselves into prosperity.

 

There is another prominent beat writer there over the age. But I know that neither are interested in the buyout.

That offer just isn't that good.

 

Update:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Cbusiness%5Cstories.nsf&docid=ACE1E360E4AC0A09862573640008C90D

60 employees retiring from Post-Dispatch
By Jeremiah McWilliams
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Sep. 28 2007

The Post-Dispatch will say goodbye to 60 retiring employees today.

In a move to cut expenses in a difficult year, the newspaper in August extended
offers of voluntary early retirement. Staffers accepting the offers include
reporters, photographers, editors, columnists and production workers, among
others.

The net reduction in staffing will total less than 60, because key positions in
the newsroom and elsewhere will need to be refilled, said Kevin Mowbray, the
newspaper's publisher.

Editor Arnie Robbins said, "I'm sad that we're losing colleagues that have such
wisdom and institutional knowledge. But I'm convinced that we will continue to
produce strong journalism with a strong public service mission."

In recent years, the newspaper industry has suffered declining circulation and
sliding advertising revenue. Papers jostle for the attention of time-crunched
consumers and compete with blogs, websites and other media and entertainment
outlets. Newspaper companies have struggled to wring enough revenue from online
advertising to compensate for shrinking advertising in the paper-and-ink
editions.

Layoffs, buyouts and hiring freezes have become increasingly common nationwide.

The annual savings from the Post-Dispatch's early retirement program is
estimated at between $3.9 million and $4.4 million. The initial cost will total
about $10.6 million and will be recognized in the 2007 fiscal year of Lee
Enterprises Inc., the paper's Davenport, Iowa-based parent company.

The Post-Dispatch bucked a national trend of falling daily circulation in the
six months ending March 31, as its paid weekday circulation rose 0.4 percent.
Paid Sunday circulation fell 3.7 percent. Lee Enterprises said last week that
same-property advertising revenue for the company fell 1.1 percent so far this
year compared to the same period in 2006.

 

Wait a minute. I thought there was a push to hire new folks.

 

They did have two designer positions open. I think they just filled one of them.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/posts/1367667/

I don't know about any other openings, but if there is a push, it's probably for younger / cheaper people.

 

Not surprising. Sept. 30 is the end of Lee's fiscal year, one in which the stock has lost more than half its value.

 

A similar analogy to the one posted above.
Imagine McDonald's having a down quarter and telling its customers "Due to economic conditions over the past three months, your value meal will no longer include fries. These must be purchased a la carte as we restructure our menu to better serve you."
Yet newspapers do this routinely to their readers. Cut the quality, cut the space, jack up the price, and wonder why circulation tanks.
It's unbelievable these idiots have jobs, let alone jobs of authority.

 

They've also recently (as in the last few weeks) filled a photographer job, and a reporter in metro or business. There are a few other openings out there, and word is a few more to come. They are hiring, but not nearly as many as they're sending out the door today. And yes, of course, much younger.

 

Love the analogy. In place of the a la carte pricing of fries, however, they would let customers know that the food is available free somewhere else (online) and then wonder where the lines of people went.