Via the home office paper in Sacramento yesterday:
The Bee offered voluntary buyouts to the majority of its full-time employees today and hinted that another round of layoffs is possible as well. … The buyouts were offered to 55 percent of the paper’s full-time employees and a smaller number of part-timers, she said. About 44 percent of all employees are being offered buyouts.
The buyout program was announced just a few weeks after The Bee unveiled a redesigned, smaller format for its printed paper, another move largely aimed at cutting costs.
The Bee became the fifth McClatchy paper to offer buyouts to most full-timers this month, including the Modesto Bee, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Fresno Bee.
The Sacramento paper has undertaken limited buyout programs in the past, but this represents the first broad-based buyouts in its history.
I have to conclude that MNI papers in the Carolinas have also — or soon will — offer similar buyouts.
