paidContent - Gannett Says It Will Lay Off 1,400; Digital Properies Largely Spared
This story was written by David Kaplan.
A day after saying that job cuts were imminent, Gannett (NYSE: GCI) said it would begin laying off 1,400 employees—3 percent of its workforce—as advertising revenues continue to drop, AP reported. The jobs cuts are coming quickly and are expected to done by July 9. It’s still not clear whether Gannett flagship USA Today will be affected. The cuts are focused on the 80 papers in the U.S. community publishing division; sources told us that digital properties like Pointroll, Ripple6 and ShopLocal will be spared.
In an interview, Pointroll CEO Jason Tafler told us that the unit has done some hiring in Q2, though he didn’t say how many staffers were added. The rich-media provider has been working with Gannett since the publisher acquired the remaining stake in Pointroll last March for $4.6 million.
The McLean, Va.-based Gannett eliminated 10,000 jobs in 2007 and 2008; 3,000 positions at its local papers were axed in October. While the 1,400 number is considerably less than the 4,500 cut that an unidentified source tipped GannettBlog’s Jim Hopkins to last week, Hopkins’ running tally of how many and which divisions the layoffs are hitting can be found here. As of last night, Hopkins reported about 105 jobs already lost in this current round.
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By David Kaplan