Business News

Gannett Shareholders Elect Board Members, Approve Say on Pay; Board Declares Dividend

Friday 10. May 2013 - Shareholders of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) today re-elected Chairman Marjorie Magner, President and CEO Gracia C. Martore, John E. Cody, Howard D. Elias, John Jeffry Louis, Scott K. McCune, Duncan M. McFarland, Susan Ness and Neal Shapiro to the Board of Directors at the annual meeting held at the company's headquarters, with each director receiving at least 96.6% of the votes cast. The directors were elected to serve one-year terms ending at Gannett's annual meeting in 2014.

Gannett’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved, by 92.97% of the votes cast, an advisory resolution on the compensation of the company’s named executive officers reported in the company’s 2013 proxy statement and ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young as the company’s independent accounting firm for the 2013 fiscal year. Gannett’s shareholders rejected a shareholder proposal and supported management’s position relating to the vesting of equity awards of senior executives in the event of a change in control of Gannett.
The Board of Directors also declared a regular quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share, payable on July 1, 2013, to shareholders of record on June 7, 2013. This is consistent with the capital allocation strategy announced in February 2012, which included increasing Gannett’s dividend by 150 percent and accelerating the company’s share repurchase program to $300 million over the next two years. Together, these actions put Gannett on a pace to return more than $1.3 billion to shareholders by 2015.
“We are confident we have set the right course for Gannett as we move forward with our multi-year strategy, taking every opportunity to expand and evolve the ways we engage with our audiences. This dividend reflects our commitment to share the results of our strong performance with our shareholders,” said Martore.