Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Media General Copies Rke Times

Media General, which owns a significant number of newspapers in Virginia, both large and small, has taken a page from The Roanoke Times' Making Layoffs Fair book: it will furlough employees 10 days this year. Those not in a union will be required to take the 10 unpaid days and union members will be asked to take them in order to avoid layoffs.

MG, which owns WSLS-TV in Roanoke and the Lynchburg News-Advance in this area (as well as some weekly papers), has seen its stock tank in recent months. The furloughs, stretched over months, as The Times has done, seems to me to be the most equitable way to share the pain and give the company a shot. The company hopes to save $28 million with this action in concert with a suspension of 401(k) match and dividends.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Playboy Enterprises, facing a $156 million loss last year (even sex is off, it seems) talking about talking about selling itself. Would that be like prostitution, maybe? Awwww, not so much. Wonder if it'll affect Uncle Hef's babes? That would be a true tragedy.

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