In the first town hall-style meeting with employees after emerging from bankruptcy, Freedom Communications executives said there are no plans to sell, break up or shrink the chain.
"Let me be very clear: the company is not for sale," COO and CFO Mark McEachen said at the meeting, which was streamed to its 26 dailies, 70 community papers and eight TV stations Wednesday. "We're not going to break up the company. We're not going to have mass layoffs." The meeting was reported by Mary Ann Milbourn of Freedom's flagship Orange County Register.
McEachen said under its new owners -- the private equity funds who took control after the company exited bankruptcy last week -- Freedom intends to grow its business.
"Growth means acquisitions," McEachen said. "We will be acquiring properties."
McEachen also announced the pay freeze imposed last year had been lifted and that Freedom hopes to begin making matching payments to employee 401(k) retirement plans later this year.
Interim CEO Burl Osborne said the libertarian political viewpoint that Freedom's papers under the Hoiles family ownership will now be a local option. Each paper can determine its editorial bent based on the values of its community, he said.
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