Gannett laying off 1,000 as ad sales slide: report

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Gannett Co. Inc Co, which owns top-selling newspaper USA Today, is laying off more than 1,000 staff to try and combat persistent declines in revenue, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The cuts will come from the company's Community Publishing division, which groups more than 80 local dailies, the newspaper citing a person familiar with the company's thinking as saying.

The Wall Street Journal added that it was unclear precisely how many jobs will be lost, but cited the source as saying it will be under 2,000.

Shares in Gannett, which posted a 60 percent drop in quarterly earnings when it reported first-quarter results in April, held steady in after-hours trade.

The U.S. newspaper industry is struggling as the recession prompts advertisers to slash budgets and readers go online for their news.

At USA TODAY, advertising sales plummeted 33.5 percent in the first quarter.

(Reporting by David Lawsky; Editing by Christian Wiessner)