It's hard work throwing people out of their jobs, forcing hardships onto their families, watching as hopes and careers fade.
It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it, somebody has to keep those quarterly reports looking good.
And when the dirty job is over and all those inconvenient employee have left the premises, it's not just Miller Time -- it's time to be generously rewarded
Heck, more than generous, as execs at Gannett -- the huge chain of newspapers -- have demonstrated:.
Gannett paid Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow $4.7 million last year, a sharp increase over the $3.1 million he took home in 2008, the company just disclosed in a regulatory filing. Dubow's 2009 pay included a bonus of $1.5 million, the filing shows, and came after he engineered record layoffs and other cost cutting across the company.
Gracia Martore, promoted last month to president and chief operating officer, got $4 million as chief financial officer -- more than doubling her $1.4 million in 2008. Her 2009 bonus: $950,000, this morning's filing shows.
The figures, disclosed in the annual shareholder's proxy report, came after Gannett shed more than 6,000 jobs during the year through cuts that included a broad layoff in July. The company also imposed two rounds of furloughs and a one-year wage freeze for employees in the U.S. newspaper division and elsewhere. Combined, those moves helped drive Gannett's stock to yesterday's close of $16.78 from a 2009 low of $1.85.
Yep, even if you were lucky enough to keep your job at Gannett you still had to deal with furloughs and wage freezes.
Unless, of course, you happen to be CEO Craig Dubow. In that case, you're gonna to party like it's 1999!!!!!
But I'm sure he feels everybody's pain.