More McClatchy buyouts. No package details

The liberal/leftist Raleigh News & Observer is one of a number of papers owned by the McClatchy News Company.

As McClatchy's newspapers have lost circulation and ad revenue, the company's been cutting jobs.

Job cuts at the N&O have been going on for many months. ( See JinC posts here and here)

Now at AOL Financial we read - - -

The [McClatchy owned] Charlotte Observer says it expects to reduce the newspaper's work force by less than 5 percent with a series of voluntary buyouts offered to some employees.

The paper reported Monday that executives say they need to trim staff in the wake of declining advertising revenue. They would not say how many of the Observer's less than 1,200 employees will receive a buyout offer.

Editor Rick Thames stressed the program is voluntary, describing each buyout offer as ``a proposal, not a done deal.''

In a note to employees, publisher Ann Caulkins said The Observer also plans to eliminate 13 part-time telemarketing positions. She said those workers will be offered severance packages. ...

The buyout program is to be completed by May 30.

Comments:

As with previous announcements of buyouts at the N&O, no details are provided concerning the packages.

Many companies facing buyout situations do provide details. We can all recall stories reporting things like "the company said it would provide the effected employees two weeks pay for each year of employment and health insurance coverage for up to three years from the time they leave the company."

I think McClatchy would be cluck-clucking if it was making decent buyout offers.

It's silence suggests its not.

According to Yahoo Financial McClatchy was trading just before 1 PM ET at 9.73, close to its 52-week low of 7.93 and down from its 52-week high of 30.57.

Two years ago McClatchy traded close to 50.