SEC: Gannett can keep 2011 digital revenues goal secret

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on February 23, 2010 at 8:15 AM

A notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week gives Gannett Co. Inc. permission to withhold its revenue target through the end of 2011. The permission was given on a retroactive basis, and was given because that target has been deemed confidential commercial or financial information under the Freedom of Information Act, Jim Hopkins reported in his Gannett Blog.

The U.S. publisher likely wants to keep this information out of the competitions' hands.

Photo: Chris Saridakis, chief digital officer, Gannett

The notice was filed Feb. 16, and in the original 10-K report, from February 2009, Gannett placed an asterisk in the place of its revenue target, with a footnote stating the company was asking the SEC's permission to not give out its 2011 digital revenues goal.

"I'm not sure why it took the agency a year to issue today's authorization, however," Hopkins wrote.

Should Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis reach the financial goals over a four-year period, the bonus plan would award him US$4 million in February 2012, according to the blog.