The Markets February 19, 2009

Courier Clips 401(k) Match

The Evansville Courier Co., has suspended its 401(k) match and frozen its pension plan.
Reported by

The Indiana newspaper publisher said it hopes to resume its match of employees’ company stock 401(k) purchases when the economy improves. The 401(k) and pension changes are effective in April.

The retirement plan changes are part of a larger belt-tightening program that includes a 5% salary drop for salaried workers and a 3% salary decrease for hourly workers as of March 9, the company said.

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Jack Pate, the publisher of Evansville Courier & Press, said in a news story that the decisions were largely a result of the rising cost of newsprint paper and a decline in revenues from advertising.

“Our problem is not the eyeballs we reach,” Pate said. “We have a lot of demand for our product, both in print and online.”

The company publishes the Courier & Press, The Gleaner, The Union County Advocate, Audubon Printing, and other businesses, all owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. Like other media companies hard-hit by the downturn, Scripps has made similar cuts at other newspapers (see “Denver Post Latest to Suspend 401(k) Match’).


The Markets February 19, 2009

Vitesse Suspends 401(k) Match

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation, a provider of advanced IC solutions for Carrier and Enterprise networks, said it has suspended its 401(k) employer match contributions in an effort to reduce spending for 2009.
Reported by

In the announcement of its first quarter fiscal year 2009 financial results, the company said other expense reduction measures include salary reductions for executives and other employees and forgoing of annual merit increases. The actions are expected to reduce wage and benefit expenses “significantly” by the third fiscal quarter, the announcement said.

The company said it expects to reduce overall operating expenses “to support the goal of achieving cash flow neutrality for the fiscal year.’

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“We expect 2009 to be a challenging year for the industry. Accordingly, we have taken aggressive actions to continue to reduce operating expenses,’ said Chris Gardner, chief executive officer of Vitesse, in the announcement.

Vitesse was one of a number of companies involved in the stock options backdating scandal that began in 2005 (see “Stock Option Probe Biggest Since Abusive Fund Trading Cases“).

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