San Francisco Chronicle to slash 125 jobs in desperation
The San Francisco Chronicle, which has been losing over $1 million a week for Hearst for years, is set to offer 125 employees across the company buyouts. Rather than a strategic round of buyouts focused on one division, any employee can offer up his or her name, marking a desperation to reduce overhead at all cost. It remains to be seen how many of the cuts will come out of the newsroom, and if more than 125 buyout applications are received, the newspaper may accept even more. If not enough employees apply for the buyout, layoffs are threatened. Who's responsible?Publisher and CEO Frank Vega, originally brought on by parent company Hearst for his union-busting expertise and lovingly nicknamed "Darth Vega." Under his watch, operating losses at the company have actually mounted even as he's reduced the workforce. And while the 15-year, $155 million deal for a new press operations center in Fremont will serve to potentially gut the activist press workers' union, it also makes the paper especially unattractive as an acquisition. Meanwhile, executives are rumored to be spending anywhere from $500,000 to $2 million a month on management consultants. Cut them out, and the Chronicle's deficit will instantly shrink.