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Kansas Liberty: 11 November 2008
In the last five months alone, more than 300 staffers cut loose as readers, advertisers bail.
Kansas City Star to sack 50 more employees as stock hits new low
In a memo to employees Monday, The Kansas City Star's publisher, Mark Zieman, announced that 50 more employees would soon be facing unemployment. Zieman blamed the layoffs on a "harsh economic downturn" during "one of the most challenging years in Star history."
It may also be the last year in Star history if Zieman is unsuccessful in turning around the failing newspaper.
Zieman's memo was just the latest piece of bad news in what has been a very bad week for the Star and for the company that publishes the paper, the McClatchy Company.
A week ago, Fitch Ratings reported that McClatchy is likely to run into cash-flow problems trying to keep its pension fund afloat.
And on November 3, Editor & Publisher, an industry newsletter, reported that McClatchy stock was already suffering from a "low credit rating, which Fitch has assigned deep in 'junk bond' territory with a 'negative outlook' suggesting further downgrades."
Also on Monday, the company's stock price hit a 52-week low, closing at $1.85. Three years ago, the McClatchy's stock was priced above $60 a share.
The job cuts are just the latest round of belt-tightening moves thepaper's ownias the Star seeks a way out of its downward spiral. In June, the paper laid off 120 employees, and in September, another 65 staffers were let go.
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