Gannett Co., one of the largest newspaper publishers, may be preparing to lay off more than 1000 workers, according to a report on the website of Wall Street Journal.
The steady decline in advertising revenues is being seen as the primary cause for the massive lay-offs undertaken by Gannet. It is estimated that the publisher’s latest round of job cuts is going to affect between 1000 to 2000 people, according to an unnamed source quoted in the Journal’s report. At present the company has a strength of 41,500 employees after pruning off almost 10 percent of its workforce last year.
The US publishing industry has been going through a rough phase since the past year with advertising sales declining and newspapers folding up. In the first three months of this year alone, ad sales at Gannet have plunged by 34% and analysts predict that the latest quarterly results won’t be much to cheer about.
However the Journal report also said that the lay-offs by Gannet are unlikely to affect its largest newspaper, the USA Today. Based in Maclean, Virginia Gannet Co owns more than eighty other daily newspapers and has been on an austerity drive of late to contain costs.
