This action, among other cost-saving moves, gives us a future. I am hoping you will join me in focusing our energies on that future, on minimizing the distress that this development will cause everyone, and in maintaining the cherished tradition of excellence at this newspaper we all love.
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I know this is a time of great anxiety. I want to answer all your questions and my door is open. However, I cannot yet tell you the answers to the three most pressing questions: How many? Who? And when?
As you know, 2007 has been a tough year financially for our company. While the Conrad Black trial is behind us and we have settled our tax bill with Canadian revenue authorities, the company’s financial results for the first nine months of this year have been well below plan and unprofitable. The decisions I must share with you today have all been difficult, but are essential to realizing our No. 1 goal: to ensure the long-term viability of Sun-Times News Group properties.”Yesterday our board of directors endorsed the broad strokes of a plan to reduce our operating costs by $50 million next year, as we announced in a press release today. This is by far the biggest cost-reduction effort in our company’s history. We are still working out the details of the plan and will communicate specifics during January. Those actions will include a reduction in staff, further outsourcing of selected activities and reformatting of our products. The plan will begin in January and should be completed by the end of June.
