Gannett Begins Layoffs Following $54 Million Quarterly Loss

thewrap.com:

The News Guild of New York. At least 20 papers across the country have been affected so far, though there is not yet an official tally for how many employees have lost their jobs.

The staff reduction comes after the company lost nearly $54 million and saw revenue decline by 7% in the second quarter of this year. “Gannett wants to pretend it can report on our communities with fewer journalists while still spending lavishly on executives.

We deserve better, and our readers, equally, deserve better,” Asbury Park Press reporter Susanne Cervenka wrote in a statement posted on her union’s website. “There is no local journalism without local journalists.”Gannett’s share price has fallen 54% year-to-date, including 20% in the month of August so far.

This past Wednesday, CEO Mike Reed purchased 500,000 shares of the company for $1.22 million. “Gannett is a total mess, and yet the CEO continues to buy stocks and have the company buy stocks so he can get richer,” Jon Schleuss, the president of NewsGuild-CWA, said on Twitter.Reed told analysts last week that the company would be “taking significant and permanent costs” out of its business with a focus on print.