A downturn in advertising revenue and severance charges led to a fourth quarter 30.6 percent drop in net income for Gannett Co. Inc., the Business Courier of Cincinnati reported Friday.

The McLean, Va.-based publishing company earned US$245 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared to $345 million the same period in 2006. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $1.9 billion, a 12 percent decrease from $2.2 billion the fourth quarter the year prior.

“We faced a challenging advertising environment, tough comparisons, which included an extra week in 2006, and the relative absence of election-related advertising in broadcasting,” Craig Dubow, Gannett CEO said in a statement, according to the Business Courier. “Our effort to align expenses with revenue opportunities will better position us for the future although it resulted in significant severance expenses and consolidation costs in the quarter.”

Also in the fourth quarter, the publisher of national daily USA Today took a $38 million pre-tax charge for severance expenses and facility consolidation costs, the Business Courier reported.

Gannett owns 85 daily newspapers, hundreds of non-daily publications and 23 television stations.