Raleigh News & Observer offers buyouts
NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - The Raleigh News & Observer is offering buyout packages to about 200 of its 900 workers, the paper's publisher said on Monday, as falling advertising sales and rising newsprint costs take a toll on daily papers.
The North Carolina paper, which is owned by McClatchy Co (MNI.N), is one of a growing number that are offering buyouts or threatening to lay off staff as they try to keep expenses down amid a worsening economy and falling ad revenue triggered in part by a continuing migration of readers to the Internet.
"I really don't know how many people are going to sign up," Publisher Orage Quarles III told Reuters in an interview.
He said he does not expect to get 200 takers, adding that there is no target. He said he could not say if there would be layoffs until the paper sees what response it gets for the buyout packages.
Other papers that have offered staff buyouts recently include McClatchy's Miami Herald, as well as The New York Times (NYT.N), Tribune Co and The Washington Post (WPO.N).
The Times is set to begin laying off some newsroom staff in the next few weeks after fewer than 100 employees accepted the paper's buyout package. (Reporting by Robert MacMillan, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
