Aug 25 – Southeast Georgia’s Primary Daily, Florida Times-Union, to Cut 47 Jobs

Last Updated on Thursday, 25 August 2011 23:53 Written by From Staff Reports Thursday, 25 August 2011 21:04

SBJ Staff Report

Aug 25, 2011 – Morris Publishing Company, which provides a key source of daily news for the Brunswick and Golden Isles region of Southeast Georgia, announced another 39 personnel cuts – 9.5% of the newspaper’s workforce from the Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville.

The company continues to lose money, post emergence from bankruptcy. (See related story by Savannah Business Journal, Aug. 22, 2011).

The Florida Times-Union quoted the publisher, Lucy Talley, as stating that another eight open positions will not be filled except for “mission critical” jobs. The company announced in July that it was outsourcing unspecified services across the company to India, as well.

That amounts to 39 positions, Talley said. Another eight open positions won’t be filled, but existing openings for “mission critical” jobs will be, she said.

Savannah are employees have not been told whether the outsourcing strategy will mean more cuts for the company’s Savannah workforce.

Talley stated that the move was being made to cut operating costs in response to shortfalls in revenue. “Like almost every company across the globe, our company has faced and continues to face some very serious and undeniable financial challenges,” she wrote. “Based on our projected 2012 revenue, we have determined what our expenses need to be moving forward. Unfortunately, there will be job eliminations. We will also be reviewing operational costs including newsprint consumption,” the newspaper reported.

“We took a very systematic approach in evaluating what we needed to do to not only sustain our company, but to grow it. What we have now is a road map that will allow us to do both,” she said, according to the news report.

The Florida Times-Union’s parent company, Morris Publishing Group LLC, posted a $2.4 million loss on operations. After a tax benefit, it resulted in a $1.2 million loss in the second quarter, up from a $154,000 loss in the same quarter in 2010, according to the company’s SEC filing on Aug 15, 2011.

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