Sent:
Thursday, April 12, 2001 8:06 AM
To: All DJXpress Users
Subject: Memo from Peter Kann
April
12, 2001
ALL
DOW JONES COLLEAGUES
As
most of you know, over the last two or three weeks we have
done a number of layoffs in some parts of the company as part
of a cost reduction program aimed at getting our expense structure
aligned with reduced revenues in a tougher business environment.
I regret
that this has had to involve the loss of some existing jobs,
but it simply isn't feasible for a company like ours to significantly
affect its cost structure without that having some impact
on the number of people we employ.
To
put the layoffs in perspective, however, they affected just
over 200 colleagues out of our total workforce of more than
8,000. The layoffs included both management and non-management
people. Attrition and not filling open positions accounted
for the significant majority of the jobs we eliminated-a total
of more than 500. And most of the more than $60 million in
savings we've set in motion will come not from personnel reductions,
but from other cost containment steps, from lower marketing
budgets to curtailing travel and entertainment expenses to
reducing our consumption of newsprint.
Again,
I deeply regret the fact that some colleagues lost jobs and
I also regret the concern this has caused to others of you.
Our common goal now, however, has to be to keep our focus
on serving customers with the best products and services in
our markets, and with growing our revenues and building our
businesses even in a more difficult economic environment.
I have complete confidence in our ability to meet those challenges
together.
Sincerely,
Peter Kann
Sent:
Wednesday, March 07, 2001 7:39 AM
To: All DJXpress Users
Subject: Memo from Peter Kann
March
7, 2001
To
All Dow Jones Colleagues:
It
should come as no surprise to any of us in a company covering
business and financial news that we some months ago entered
a more challenging business environment. Trends affecting
our customers impact us as well.
Thus,
we announced this morning that results for the first quarter
of this year will be well below last year, and well below
market expectations. We also said that we expect that business
will continue to run behind last year's very strong pace for
some time, and that it is difficult, at this time, to say
when the current economic uncertainty will dissipate, allowing
growth in our businesses-and those of our customers-to resume.
I wanted
to communicate with you directly about what this means for
Dow Jones, and those of us who work here.
As
we said in this morning's press release, and as we'll repeat
in the conference call later this morning, we are moving aggressively
to even better align our expense structure with the current
operating environment. That means that controllable costs,
which grew steadily in a healthier economy, must now be cut
back. It means that costs we can safely defer must be deferred.
It means that we must be even smarter about how to make our
businesses perform more efficiently. And, unfortunately, it
means that we will need to make some limited reductions in
our workforce.
We
need your help in all of this over coming months. And in the
next few weeks we need your patience.
It
will take some time-a few weeks, but not more than that-to
identify all of the steps we need to take. In that time, I'd
ask you not to heed rumors, to understand that many of the
staff reductions we envision can be achieved by attrition,
and to remember that the remainder will constitute a very
small fraction of a Company of 8550 employees.
I also
want to assure you about a few things that will not happen.
We will not do things that would curb the Company's future
growth. And we will make sure that the quality of our products
and services, and the service we deliver to customers, are
maintained.
No
one enjoys the sort of steps we are announcing today, and
will be announcing in days to come. All of us, I know, work
here because we take pride and pleasure in creating and growing
great products and building great businesses, not in pruning
them.
Last
year was, in many ways, the most successful in our history.
And I remain as convinced as ever that the greatest days of
The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones still lie ahead. By
taking these hard steps now we are further assuring that that
will be so. With appreciation for your understanding,
Peter
Kann
|
