How much do you pay a man like that?
In a fair and just world, Gatehouse Media CEO Kirk Davis would be standing in the unemployment line with counselors suggesting he find himself another line of work.
Instead, Davis raked in $2,104,212 in 2015 according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It was Davis who pulled the trigger on the decision to order $27 million in cuts to his company, cuts which continued the process of dismantling more than 400 community newspapers across the United States, including 15 in Missouri.
The cuts resulted in the Carthage Press, long a proud daily newspaper, which had been twice weekly for the past couple of years to become a once-a-week publication.
The Neosho Daily News will no longer be printed daily next month as it goes to twice a week and the Miami News-Record has also been cut from five to two days a week.
These are just the latest in a long list of cuts, engineered by Davis, who was Gatehouse's chief operating officer before it emerged from bankruptcy under the auspices of the newly formed New Media, which is run by former Gatehouse CEO Mike Reed.
While the Gatehouse employees, many of whom have worked for their newspapers for years have been unceremoniously shown the door, receiving little in the way of severance pay, that will never happen to Davis.
The SEC filing shows that if he loses his job as a result of a change of control in the company, he will receive a pay package worth $2,204,496, including health insurance for a year.
It's a warped version of the American dream- become the worst at what you do and rise to the top. Lose your job and you do even better.
Meanwhile, community newspapers like the Carthage Press and the Neosho Daily News are left in the dust.
Total revenue for the year ended December 27, 2015 increased by $543.5 million, or 83.3%, to $1,195.8 million from $652.3 million for the year ended December 28, 2014.
ReplyDelete$500,000 base salary and $600,000 bonus on 1.2 billion in revenue?
Private business. They can d o whatever they want. What's it to you?
ReplyDeletePrivate citizens. They can say what they want to. Some people still believe in the value of the robust exchange of factual information.
DeleteAnonymous 12:12 seems to point out the compensation is very low
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:27 is very succinct in his( her) assessment
Randy, when you get in this predicament; how do you plan to handle it?
Harvey Hutchinson 303-522-6622 voice&text 24/7
Good work, Capt'n Kirk. They's all dead.
ReplyDeleteNothing keeping anyone from forming a new newspaper. Looks to me like nobody much cared enough to read these failing papers or even miss them much when they were gone.
Now if I wish to read a heavily censored pack of lies for free, well, there is always the Turner Report.
Which you seem to be reading...
Delete