Business in brief: Belo, Yahoo sign news video deal
Belo Corp. says 13 of its television stations, including KREM in Spokane, will be the exclusive providers of local news video in their markets to Web site operator Yahoo Inc.
The companies said Wednesday that they will share advertising revenue from the videos. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo said the videos will be available only on local news pages of Yahoo! News.
Yahoo said the additional clips from the Belo stations broaden its local news video coverage to include 18 of the nation’s top 25 markets.
The videos also will be provided from Web sites of Belo stations in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, New Orleans, Phoenix, St. Louis, the Seattle-Tacoma area, Portland, Tucson, Ariz.; Charlotte, N.C.; Louisville, Ky., and the Hampton-Norfolk, Va. Area.
The deal doesn’t extend to Belo stations in Dallas and Boise.
ATLANTA
UPS boss fears risk of recession
The chief executive of UPS Inc. said Wednesday that the country is at increased risk of falling into a recession and it’s not clear when the economy will rebound.
CEO Scott Davis, who took the helm at the world’s largest shipping carrier earlier this month, told a Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce gathering that overall economic growth is lethargic.
He said he could not say for sure if the U.S. will fall into a recession, but he added, “There’s more risk than there was before.”
Davis did not offer any new guidance on earnings and revenue projections for Atlanta-based UPS, which moves roughly 7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product each day.
A slowdown in the U.S. housing market and a credit crunch facing major financial institutions have caused economic observers in recent months to grow more concerned about the possibility of a recession.
SEATTLE
Times cutting 86 positions
The Seattle Times Co. is eliminating 86 jobs, most through attrition but 17 through layoffs, in a plan to cut costs by $21 million, company officials confirmed.
All but one of the layoffs are in the circulation department. Of the 69 positions to be eliminated by attrition, 55 are vacant, Vice President Jill Mackie said. The Times will therefore reduce its total number of current employees by 31, to 1,889.
Another 18 circulation workers face reductions in hours that will make them ineligible for medical benefits, according to the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which represents 630 employees at the Times.
“The Times believes they can make the reduction they need to make primarily through attrition,” Guild administrative officer Liz Brown said. “At this point they are not going to slash their news staff, which is what a lot of newspapers are doing now, and in that regard, the news could have been much worse.”