Gannett is tanking and announced a $3-BILLION DOLLAR LOSS today. Citing "tough economic challenges both domestically and in the U.K.," McLean-based Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other daily newspapers including the Salisbury Daily Times, said today that it plans to record as much as $3 billion in impairment charges this quarter to reflect the company's dwindling value.
The losses to the Eastern Shore group reflect very bad management decisions, poor customer service and an overall bad attitude towards everyone inside and outside of their corporate walls. It appears that the poor management is not limited to the Eastern Shore and poor customer service has become part of the Gannett 'corporate culture' around the world.
Gannett said that the non-cash charges reflect "challenging business conditions" related to the softening real estate market, as well as a decline in its stock price. "Newsquest, our publishing operation in the U.K., has been significantly impacted and many regions of the U.S. continue to struggle," said CEO Craig Dubow. Company CFO Gracia Martore said that the write downs "do not in any way impact our ability to operate our businesses." The news sent company shares down by a little more than 1.01% as of 2:25 PM today.
The losses to the Eastern Shore group reflect very bad management decisions, poor customer service and an overall bad attitude towards everyone inside and outside of their corporate walls. It appears that the poor management is not limited to the Eastern Shore and poor customer service has become part of the Gannett 'corporate culture' around the world.
Gannett said that the non-cash charges reflect "challenging business conditions" related to the softening real estate market, as well as a decline in its stock price. "Newsquest, our publishing operation in the U.K., has been significantly impacted and many regions of the U.S. continue to struggle," said CEO Craig Dubow. Company CFO Gracia Martore said that the write downs "do not in any way impact our ability to operate our businesses." The news sent company shares down by a little more than 1.01% as of 2:25 PM today.
The impact of publishing giant Gannett going down the tubes is they are taking small town America's newspapers with them. The company has been on an acquisition spree for years and purchased many local independent newspapers who used to provide local and regional coverage. The stories they call "news" are homogenized and written by people who operate from the position of fear of losing their jobs, instead of good old fashioned American journalism.
Who or what is going to replace all of the local newspapers that once were the backbone of 'news' & information for small towns across the USA?
7 comments:
Salisbury News, that's who!
BLOGS!!!!!
No question on this one. Salisbury News will easilly replace the Disgrace. In fact they already have for me!
A. Goetz
Let's try to get the facts straight on this. Most of the write down was related to a decrease in value for their UK unit NewsQuest PLC. I know you are hitting them hard here in Salisbury, but I'm not sure Salisbury News will take down Gannett....LOL!
David Took down Goliath didn't he ?
Gannett has three big financial problems:
1. Its UK business -- that's what it is using as a foil for the others, which are really the core problem -- its US business, namely the following.
2. USA Today has become mature and is not growing in circulation, plus has increasing costs and decreased ad revenue due to the economy, internet, etc., so it is fading as the cash cow.
3. A few years back, Gannett was taken to the cleaners by another big newspaper firm (Thomson), which sold it a package of mostly local papers, including the Daily Times, for much more than they were worth. Many of these (including the DT) are now in very bad shape, due in some part to their bad local management by Gannett.
Look for heads and local papers to roll at Gannett in the next couple years, and our local rag and its local "leadership" may be part of that downsizing process.
Good article on Gannett, it couldn't happen to a nicer corporate entity. Maybe they are getting what they deserve. I'm a former photojournalist who has left the industry after working for thoughtless, spineless corporate giants like Gannett that measure news quality on how it benefits their bottom line. A real "fair and balanced" approach if you know what I mean. Hats off to all you bloggers for calling it like it is.
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