Newsday offers buyouts as it expands video, live events, niche products, company says

Newsday Media Group is offering voluntary buyouts to dozens of veteran employees as it continues its transition from a newspaper publisher to a multimedia company, executives said Wednesday.

The Melville-based company, which operates a daily newspaper, website and television streaming service, has a workforce of 510. Thirteen of the positions included in the buyout offer are unionized, according to the IAM/PPPWU union.

Newsday spokesperson Tara Rogers said the buyouts would amount “to less than 10% of employees and only in certain areas, including advertising, information technology, operations, newsroom and audience” departments.

“Newsday is continuing its transformation from a traditional newspaper into a leading-edge multimedia news organization,” Rogers said in a statement.

“We continue to grow our in-depth reporting, investigations and data analysis," she added. "We are expanding NewsdayTV, our portfolio of live events and new niche products and experiences for Long Islanders.” 

Mike LaSpina, president of Local 406 of the IAM/PPPWU union, which represents about 176 Newsday employees, said the buyouts were not unexpected given downsizing by other news organizations nationwide, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Revenue isn’t coming in as it used to for newspapers … Newsday has the right to have buyouts" under the collective bargaining agreement, LaSpina said in an interview. “I just hope this doesn’t hurt the quality of the newspaper.”

He said all the unionized positions affected by the buyout offer are in the newsroom.

The company spokesperson, citing Newsday’s status as a privately owned company, declined to discuss its finances.

Newsday last offered employee buyouts in 2019 before moving to a smaller Melville office.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.