Hall said the company would offer buyout packages to union and certain nonunion employees. After enjoying several years of increasing profits since Ridder became chief executive in 1995, Knight Ridder expects earnings to decline this year because of an advertising slump and a sharp increase in the cost of newsprint. Following a 2.7 percent decrease in ad revenue during February, Knight Ridder's ad revenue fell 6 percent in March. I never have seen a fall-off as sudden or as steep as this one. At the same time, Knight Ridder's newsprint expenses are up by 20 percent from the same time last year.
Newsprint typically represents a newspaper's second-largest expense, after labor.