By: Joe Strupp About 100 Associated Press employees in news, technology and business units have accepted a voluntary buyout, according to the news cooperative, which said the deadline for taking the offer was Monday.
Among those leaving the company through the early retirement program were longtime reporter Richard Pyle and Senior White House Photographer Ron Edmonds.
"No doubt yesterday was an unusual day at AP, with so many veteran
colleagues leaving at once," Spokesman Paul Colford said in a statement to E&P. "We salute those who chose early retirement under the program and thank them for their long years of dedication and commitment to the AP. We wish them well as they head off to new opportunities."
The buyout offer, first put forth in May, was available to AP staffers who had been with the news outlet since Jan. 1, 2009; reached age 55 by the end of 2009; had 10 years of "vested service" with AP; and a combined age and years of service equal to 75 or higher.
The offer included a lump sum payment of $500 for each year of service, along with a pension increase. The company's offer was extended to all 2,500 AP employees based in the United States. AP has 4,000 employees worldwide.
AP announced in November 2008 that it wanted to reduce its worldwide labor costs 10 percent by the end of 2009.
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