• by Ray Schultz , April 2, 2023

Gannett CEO Mike Reed’s took a massive voluntary pay cut last year.

Reed's salary totaled roughly $3.4 million, according to an SEC filing.. Counting everything, the pay actually collected by Reed came tp $4.5 million. 

In 2021, Reed had “summary compensation” of $7.7 million and actual pay of $12 million. 

The company also reports that “Mr. Reed’s base salary rate was voluntarily reduced to $800,000 for the period of October 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.”

This is not likely to satisfy some critics. Gannett reduced journalism jobs by 20%, from 4,846 at the end of 2021 to 3,900 last year and the total employee roster by 19% to 11,200, Boston Business Journal writes. 

In other Gannett news, Reed said the company would sell more local sales of daily news newspapers.
 
“We would entertain bids on any of our markets, any of our products that are at or above fair market value. So that’s something we’ve done in the past, we’ll do in the future,” Reed said, according to reports. “Those things can be lumpy.  It depends on vanity-type buyers in those particular markets.”

The titles reportedly could include the Bergen Record and the Asbury Park Press.

According to Axios, 100 or so daily newspaper markets bring in roughly 90% of Gannett's newspaper business revenues. The Mather Economics' annual Media Revenue Symposium in Atlanta.