Star-Ledger To Lose $10 Million; Offers Buyouts
September 07, 2010 11:31 am ET by Joe Strupp
Two years after offering a buyout that decimated its newsroom by cutting about one-third of its staff, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., the state's largest daily paper, is offering another such buyout.
In a memo to staff today, Publisher Richard Vezza stated that the paper had lost $9 million in 2009 and was on pace to lose another $10 million this year:
After seeing our financial performance for the first seven months of this year and projecting the remainder of the year, it's clear that we need to further reduce costs. Our past efforts have helped in moving us toward the success we must have to continue publishing, but, our ad revenues have continued to decline in this unprecedented recession and we are now at a very precarious point.
The memo noted that the buyouts are offered to all non-union employees hired before 2006 and would provide one year of salary to each.
He also indicated salaries would be readjusted but offered no specifics. The memo also did not say how many buyouts the newspaper is seeking.
You're right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars *next* year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in... 60 years.
But this time it isn't a joke. Sad.
The Star Ledger is probably the best newspaper left in the state.