CEO Robert Decherd issued letters today to shareholders and employees discussing "numerous initiatives on parallel paths to construct a new business model for A. H. Belo." Corporate will release third-quarter results next Friday.
Two changes of note for staff are salary freezes and 20 percent reduction in Board of Directors fees.
Decherd also said the reductions-in-force "will be completed soon." Several commenters toward the end of the "Great Layoff Wait of 2008" thread quoted metro editors as saying layoffs would happen today.
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Is he really so calloused that he writes about "bonuses" for "expense reduction targets" on the day of layoffs? Good grief.
From the letter to stockholders:
"The subsequent reduction in force will be completed soon, and will result in approximately 90 fewer employees ans savings of approximately $5 million annually."
Any idea what size the RIF is for DMN newsroom?
RE: Is he really so calloused that he writes about "bonuses" for "expense reduction targets" on the day of layoffs?
Sorry. My note should have said "bonuses" for those achieving the so-called expense reduction targets set by Belo execs.
Ug. Ug. Ug.
it's begun
Someone please keep us posted regularly if it's really begun. I'm out in the burbs, by myself, going nuts wondering what's happening.
Best to all. and know there is life after belo. there are places where the water-cooler lingo isn't always doom and gloom. there are places to work where you smile. where pay isn't frozen annually. where you can enjoy yourself and your work again.
Amen to the commment directly amen.
-- ex-DMNer
Odd. I can't access the letter to colleagues on the A.H. Belo Web site, but I can access the one to stockholders. Oh, that's right, the stockholders are the important ones.
Oh, and you can't spell corporate without "rat," but that's just immature name-calling and silly, so I feel bad for typing it.
To the above: I had the same problem, but I clicked on the shareholder letter and kept scrolling through, and the colleague letter was there, too, starting on Page 5 of the PDF.
It's going to be a tough day and my thoughts are with you. But this really isn't the end of the world.
For those asked to leave, you'll find you can breathe easier. A great weight of anxiety has been lifted off your back. And you truly now have a little luxury of time to think about the future. And do something about it.
I took the September buyout, so my situation is different. But voluntary or involuntary, we have to reassess our talents and refit ourselves to a different work world.
As the saying goes, there is life after Belo.
Your colleagues at the Star-Telegram have you in our thoughts today.
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