Tribune to cut 400 to 500 companywide, 45 at Sun

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.tribune14feb14,0,5101490.story

From Staff and Wire Reports
February 14, 2008

Tribune Co., facing declining revenue, said yesterday that it would cut 400 to 500 jobs companywide, or about 2 percent of the Chicago-based media company's work force.

Chief executive Sam Zell announced the reductions in one of his frequent "Talk to Sam" e-mail messages to employees. The job cuts are focused on the corporate staff and the company's newspapers, including The Sun, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday in New York, Orlando Sentinel in Florida and Hartford Courant in Connecticut.

Zell said the reduction would be achieved through a combination of voluntary separation programs, involuntary layoffs, attrition and elimination of open positions, with individual business units making decisions about which to use.

The Sun plans to eliminate about 45 jobs from its 1,200-member work force by the end of March through voluntary buyouts, Tim Ryan, publisher and chief executive officer, said in an e-mailed memo to employees. Employees would get one week's pay for each six months with the company, with a maximum of 52 weeks.

The newspaper will consider layoffs if it falls short of its goal, Ryan said.

"The economy may not yet be in a recession, but it's clearly on the way, and in the news business, we are feeling it now," Ryan said in his e-mail.

FULL story at link.