COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The economic downturn will mean two weeks of unpaid time off this year for employees of Richmond-based Media General Inc., including NBC 4.
The parent company of NBC 4said Wednesday that its employees will be required to take 10 days without pay by the end of September.
The mandatory furloughs are expected to save the company about $9 million and offset revenue shortfalls as it deals with a weakening advertising market that is hurting many newspaper and television companies.
Media General employs about 5,600 people.
"With this furlough, along with other cost-reduction measures already implemented, we are being prudent and proactive as we address the impact of unprecedented economic turmoil in our country and our industry," said Marshall N. Morton, the company's president and chief executive officer.
Media General already has announced other cost reductions, including suspending the company's dividend on its common stock and suspending its matching contribution to its 401(k) plan. Along with the furloughs, the cost-cutting measures will save the company about $28 million this year, which it will use for debt reduction.
A severe slump in advertising revenue has forced other media companies to cut jobs or furlough employees. In January, Landmark Communications Inc., owner of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, The Roanoke Times, and the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., announced that it was freezing employees' wages for a year and giving them five days off without pay to cut expenses.
Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper publisher with 85 dailies including USA Today, announced late last year that it would cut 10 percent of the work force at most of its papers and require one-week unpaid furloughs across the company during the first quarter of 2009.
At Media General, employees will be required to take four days by the end of March and three days each in the company's next two fiscal quarters, ending in June and September.
Through job cuts and attrition, Media General has reduced its overall work force by about 1,300 from 6,900 in early 2007, company spokesman Ray Kozakewicz said.
Media General reported last month that its revenue fell 11.4 percent to $207 million in the fourth quarter as advertising revenue declined. The company reported a net loss of $85.5 million, or $3.86 per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 28, primarily because it lowered the value of some assets.
The company publishes 24 daily newspapers and more than 250 weekly newspapers and other targeted publications. It also owns and operates 19 network-affiliated television stations, as well as Web sites -- such as nbc4i.com -- affiliated with its newspapers and television stations.
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