George S. May Business Blog

USA Today, gone tomorrow?

USA Today’s publisher, Gannett Co., and also our nations largest newspaper chain, is rumored to be letting several hundred jobs go within its community newspaper division, according to an anonymous source.

Rumors are that around 80 of the smaller papers under the Gannett umbrella will feel the reductions, but no cuts are expected at USA Today. On Gannett Blog, a former Gannett editor who closely follows the company, Jim Hopkins, quotes an unnamed person in the company as saying that it will announce on July 8 that it is eliminating 4,500 United States newspaper jobs. That unnamed person also predicted salary cuts to occur across the board. Gannett executives, when questioned, denied that number saying it was far to high, but did acknowledge that Gannett layoffs were on the way and that while the exact number of layoffs had not been decided upon, we can expect at least several hundred and possibly more than 1,000. The company’s United States and British newspaper divisions eliminated more than 10,000 jobs in 2007 and 2008, including about 2,000 layoffs last fall. Gannett executives have said repeatedly that they expect more downsizing.

Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other U.S. papers, saw newspaper advertising revenue fall 34.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with the period a year earlier. Analysts say second-quarter numbers will be similarly weak. The company has taken some drastic steps to lower expenses, including cutting home delivery of The Detroit Free Press from daily to three days a week, and stopping print publication of The Tucson Citizen.

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