Joining the growing ranks of downsizing news organizations across the country, the Chicago Tribune offered a buyout to its union newsroom employees Thursday, the first since days after the newspaper was purchased by investment firm Alden Global Capital in 2021.

The Tribune did not disclose the scope of the buyouts or whether it is also considering layoffs to reduce the size of the newsroom, but said in an email to union employees that “business necessity will limit the number of positions” eligible for participation in the plan.

The voluntary separation plan provides up to 12 weeks of pay for employees who have been with the newspaper for up to 12 years, with a maximum of 21 weeks of severance for longer-tenured employees. Tribune newsroom employees have until July 7 to apply for the buyout. If accepted, their last day with the newspaper will be July 11.

Chicago-based Tribune Publishing declined to comment on the buyout offer.

The Chicago Tribune Guild formed seven years ago and ratified its first labor agreement in November. It represents 77 journalists at the city’s largest daily newspaper.

It is the first newsroom buyout offer at the Chicago Tribune in four years, when Alden’s acquisition prompted a voluntary exodus.

In May 2021, the New York-based investment firm purchased the Tribune Publishing chain for $633 million. More than 40 Chicago Tribune journalists, including many high-profile reporters and editors, accepted a voluntary buyout offered by Alden two days after the acquisition.

With the acquisition of Tribune Publishing, Alden became the second-largest newspaper owner in the U.S. behind Gannett. Alden also owns MediaNews Group, whose larger newspapers include the Denver Post, San Jose (California) Mercury News and the St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press.

The Tribune newsroom buyout offer Thursday follows broader trends that have seen dramatically reduced employment at local newspapers across the U.S. in the post-millennium digital media landscape. Since 2005, more than 266,000 newspaper jobs have been eliminated, a 73% decline, according to the 2024 State of Local News report by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

The total includes the loss of more than 45,000 newsroom jobs, a 60% reduction over the past two decades, according to the study.

In March, more than a fifth of the employees at the Chicago Sun-Times took a buyout, including 23 reporters and editors, heading off potential layoffs in a sweeping cost-cutting initiative by nonprofit owner Chicago Public Media.

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