Reader Elmer sends a Gannettblog item on today's D&C layoff announcement. Fifty-nine jobs were eliminated today.
What's more interesting is that the D&C still employs 690 in Rochester. It's not clear if other Gannett properties such as The Insider, RocMoms, etc. are included in that count.
What is clear is that maintaining a print plant while trying to grow an Internet site is a tall order when you're laying off 8% of your staff. The Rochester market is ripe for a TV station or a startup to hire 69 people, or even 39 people, and take a big run at the D&C online.
Comments
I would think it is very difficult to turn a profit online with even a couple of people, much less 39 or 69
I think you're probably right that, at this minute, there's no way to make serious $$ online, certainly not enough to support a multi-million dollar media outlet.
But at some point, I gotta believe that someone with deep enough pockets is going to try to steal the online market from Gannett.
What's amazing to me is how bad the D&C website is. It's like they went out of their way to create a bad website.
Thinking out loud...is there any way Gannett can get some of that bailout money?
Unfortunately, they are not too big to fail.
The funny thing is most Gannett papers are very very profitable, but their management seems determined to keep them at the same return on sales percentages as in the past (30-35%). At the present time, and maybe forever, these return on sales figures are impossible to meet due to declining ad revenue without chopping bodies.
So what kind of margins do you think are realistic? 15%?
Stockholders want as high a return on sales as possible. I would be happy with 10%
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