Gannett Offers Buyouts to 665 Employees (GCI, WPO)

Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) has offered an early retirement buyout package to 665 of its more than 32,000 employees. The offer comes one day after The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) said that it would offer a buyout to “some” of its newsroom employees. The New York Times reported that a source told it that the Post planned on a reduction of about 20 people.

Gannett reported a -33% drop in profits last quarter and a -7% decline in advertising revenue. The Washington Post Co. reported in November that its publishing division had a -9% drop in revenue.

None of this should come as a big surprise because newspaper ad revenues have been falling for years now. The Post’s reduction is its fifth in the last 10 years.

Shares of GCI are down about -1.5% in the first few minutes of trading this morning, at $14.81 in a 52-week range of $8.28-$17.36. Shares in the Washington Post Co. are down -0.83% at $385.12 in a 52-week range of $308.50-$455.68.