Around 200 Associated Press staffers near retirement age are being offered the opportunity to take their pensions in one lump sum, Insider has learned. For some longtime newsroom vets, the payouts could amount to as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to The Insider.
The AP, which has around 3,300 employees, operates in 250 locations globally.
The move is the latest by the AP to reduce its pension obligation, which costs the news cooperative millions of dollars a year. The AP stopped offering its pension plan in 2006; in 2011, it moved to freeze the plan to reduce costs and reduce a more than $100 million shortfall in the plan.
The AP makes most of its revenue from content licensing and its fortunes are tied to its news industry members; in 2020, its revenue stood at $467 million, down more than 25% in a decade. An AP representative said the current pension offer was not a buyout and that it would enable the AP to invest in staff and other areas.
"We are offering some staff nearing retirement age the choice to take their pension benefit as a lump sum," an AP rep said. "This is an opportunity for some employees to receive a new form of their benefit and for the AP to reinvest any savings into people, technology and infrastructure."
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