CINCINNATI—Media company E.W. Scripps Co. posted a loss for the fourth quarter Thursday as it plans to cut salaries and benefits amid an industrywide advertising downturn.
Scripps, which owns a chain of local newspapers and TV stations, told employees Wednesday that it is cutting most salaries at newspapers and in corporate offices by 3 percent to 5 percent, suspending its matching 401(k) contributions and plans to freeze pension plans some time this year. Bonuses have also been cut “drastically,” the company said.
The moves are expected to save $20 million this year.
Scripps lost $19.4 million in the latest quarter, compared with earnings of $44.7 million in the same quarter a year ago.
The company did not release its final net income or earnings per share because of an accounting delay. A spokesman said income tax calculations were complicated by the spin-off of Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. last year and the company will report its full earnings around March 2.
Sales for the quarter fell 6.2 percent to $265 million from $282 million, but topped the average analyst forecast of $257.1 million, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.
“It became apparent toward the end of the year there’s nowhere to hide from the national economic crisis,” Scripps Chief Executive Rich Boehne said in a statement.
The company’s fourth-quarter results also reflected the challenges facing media owners as readers and advertisers shift away from traditional sources of news and entertainment.
Classified advertising revenue in the newspaper division had the steepest decline, falling more than 31 percent from year-ago levels. Even online ad sales, once thought a viable alternative for newspapers watching print advertising plummet, fell 13 percent.
Local and national advertising revenues at Scripps television stations dropped 27 percent, though political advertising during the U.S. presidential race helped offset the decline somewhat.
Advertising woes have already forced the company to put the Rocky Mountain News, one of Denver’s two daily newspapers, up for sale. Scripps said Thursday it will make an announcement about the paper’s future during the first quarter.
The pay cuts announced this week came after corporate executives, TV station managers and newspaper publishers at the company took a salary cut of 5 percent to 15 percent beginning Jan. 1.
The company’s shares slid 9 cents, or 6 percent, to close at $1.41.
