New York Times, Washington Post Cut Jobs as Ads Fall

Times Co. said today it eliminated 100 positions and will cut non-union salaries companywide by as much as 5 percent for the rest of the year. Washington Post is seeking an unspecified number of voluntary buyouts.

Publishers’ revenue has plunged as readers seek more news from the Internet, where advertising sales are less lucrative. Four newspaper owners have filed for bankruptcy since December. Times Co., Gannett Co. and others have halted or slashed dividends and are seeking to sell assets to preserve cash.

“It’s not going to end until newspaper economics get better, and that’s not going to happen any time soon,” John Morton, a newspaper analyst and president of Morton Research Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland, said in an interview. “There’s a deep advertising recession and one has to wonder whether they’re ever going to get it all back.”