St. Paul Pioneer Press to cut 40 jobs

The St. Paul Pioneer Press will eliminate the equivalent of 40 full-time jobs after seeing ad revenue drop in key categories, a trend that accelerated in recent months. The jobs will be cut through a combination of attrition, buyouts and layoffs. The newsroom, the paper's single largest department, will cut the equivalent of 20 full-time positions. The other cuts will be spread across the newspaper.

The changes will come quickly, as buyout applications will be due on Nov. 27 and people who get them could be out the door by Dec. 1.

The paper currently employs 745 people and the reductions represent about 5 percent of that work force.

At meetings with employees, publisher Par Ridder [Tony's son] was asked if this set of cuts would be the only reductions at the Pioneer Press, and what the prospects are for ad revenue rebounding. He said he couldn't predict where the business would go.

The buyout package includes two weeks of pay for each year of employment at the paper and health care coverage for up to six months. Health coverage would be available for another year after that, though at a higher cost to the employee.

The Pioneer Press' former owner, Knight Ridder, sold the paper earlier this year. The paper is currently owned by the Hearst Corp. but is managed by MediaNews Group Inc., which eventually plans to own it outright after its financing deal with Hearst is complete.

Click on the headline to read the full story in the Pioneer Press.

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