Media General - FishbowlNY

Media General Cuts 75

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:36:00 +0000

Media General, the company that sold 63 papers to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in May, is dropping 75 staffers.

According to a memo obtained by Jim Romenesko, the cuts were coming from “corporate staff departments and in the digital media section of the Growth and Performance group.”

“Affected employees are being notified effective today; however, certain positions will have a deferred termination date between now and the end of the year for various business reasons,” wrote Media General’s CEO, Marshall Morton, in the memo.

For more, head over to Romensko’s site.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Warren Buffett Buys 63 More Newspapers

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:05:36 +0000

Let the record show that when Warren Buffett says he’s considering something, it means he’s definitely doing it. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Media Group just announced that it is buying 63 daily and weekly newspapers from Media General for $142 million in cash. It was only last week when Buffett said that he “may buy more newspapers,” so he obviously had this purchase in mind already.

The papers involved in the deal — which is expected to close June 25 — are published in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. The acquisition also includes all of the papers’ digital brands and tablet apps. The only property not being sold to Berkshire Hathaway is Media General’s Tampa group.

In a statement, Buffett once again trumpeted the power of newspapers. ”In towns and cities where there is a strong sense of community, there is no more important institution than the local paper,” he explained. “The many locales served by the newspapers we are acquiring fall firmly in this mold and we are delighted they have found a permanent home with Berkshire Hathaway.”

Since we’re big newspaper fans, we might just send Buffett a thank you note.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Possible Job Cuts Ahead As Media General Mulls Consolidation

Amanda Ernst — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Our sister blog MediaJobsDaily has a tip that publisher Media General is “planning to consolidate the copy-editing and design functions for most of its papers into a central location, which would ultimately end in reducing staff.”

Media General owns 21 daily newspapers and more than 200 specialty publications, including community weeklies (some of which are already being edited out of a central location, says MediaJobsDaily), and employs more than 5,000 staffers company-wide. A consolidation of this kind would likely affect quite a few.

MediaJobsDaily: Rumor: Media General Plans To Consolidate Copy Editing, Designing, Thus Cutting Jobs

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.