Cuts come to Oklahoman

The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City is cutting 150 positions of 1,000 in the company. There are 200 newsroom positions. Cuts will come through buyouts of veterans first, then layoffs. This is interesting as the Oklahoman is privately held. Cuts at other newspapers come to satisfy shareholders and maintain margins, so the cuts at The Oklahoman means profitability was becoming unacceptably low for the well-heeled, local owners. This could mean the first wave of newspaper cuts have come full circle or it could be a harbinger of another wave coming to publicly held papers.