Dex One, the Cary yellow pages publisher that continues to shake up its operations to offset slower sales, today named a new chief financial officer.

Gregory Freiberg, 44, joins the company on Sept. 12. He replaces Steven Blondy, who stepped down as CFO in July. Blondy had been CFO of the company previously known as R.H. Donnelley since March 2002.

Freiberg will report to Alfred Mockett, who took over as CEO nearly a year ago. Since then, Dex One has been remaking itself into a digital business, as customers shift away from traditional print yellow pages. The economic slowdown has also hurt advertising sales, and Dex One is still losing money.

Dex One, the yellow pages publisher that's remaking itself into a digital advertising business, reported another drop in quarterly revenue this morning.

The Cary-based company has seen advertising sales slump as the economic slowdown erodes demand from small businesses.

For the current quarter, the company expects ad sales to drop as much as 15 percent.

But Dex One raised its estimate for 2011 cash flow, a measure of profit for companies with lots of debt, to $375 million to $400 million.

The company's stock, down 89 percent in the past year, fell 24 cents to close at $2.09 today.

Newspaper publisher The McClatchy Co. reported weaker sales and profit this morning, as the slump in advertising and circulation revenue continued.

Second-quarter revenue fell to $314.3 million, down 8.1 percent from a year earlier. That rate of decline was an improvement from double-digit declines during the depths of the recession, but still reflects a weak economy that's hurting the newspaper business.

Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy publishes 30 daily papers across the country, including the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Miami Herald. Its papers in Florida and California have been especially hard hit by the housing slump and high unemployment rate.

The McClatchy Co. has sold its waterfront property in downtown Miami for $236 million, as the newspaper publisher divests some real-estate assets to bolster its financial health.

McClatchy, which is the parent corporation of The News & Observer, will use most of the money to fund its pension plan. That will free up more future profits to continue repaying the company's massive debt.

Bond-rating agency Moody's raised its outlook on McClatchy's $1.75 billion of debt to positive from stable after the news.

And McClatchy's shares rose 19 cents to $2.95 today. The stock is still down 37 percent this year.

McClatchy sold the Miami property to Genting, a Malaysian-based developer of casinos and resorts.

Steven M. Blondy, the finance chief of Dex One, plans to resign from the Cary yellow pages publisher.

Blondy, 51, will step down by July 31, and the company has started a search for  a new chief financial officer, Dex One announced this morning.

He will receive a lump-sum separation fee of $2.6 million, plus other benefit payments, Dex One reported in an filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Blondy has been CFO of the company previously known as R.H. Donnelley since March 2002.

The News & Observer will eliminate about 20 jobs in the latest cost-cutting effort by the Raleigh-based media company.

The staff reductions announced today will affect most areas of the company, including the newsroom. Some employees will have the opportunity to accept voluntary severance packages, but a few positions will be eliminated through layoffs.  

The newspaper publisher continues to see declines in print advertising revenue, mirroring similar trends nationwide. Online ad revenue is increasing, but is still a smaller part of the total.

"Although our declines are not as steep as they have been in previous years, revenue trends remain negative year-over-year," publisher Orage Quarles III wrote in a memo to employees this morning. "As a result, we must continue to look for ways to offset this trend by managing expenses.

"We understand how difficult this message is to receive given other reduction programs we have done over the last few years," he wrote. "However, we are working hard to implement new products and improve our revenue performance to help us navigate through these difficult times."

The McClatchy Co. reported weaker first-quarter results, hurt by ongoing declines in advertising and circulation revenue.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based company publishes The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and other newspapers across the country. Its shares fell 10 percent Tuesday to close at $3.19, and are down 42 percent in the past year.

Despite the slowly reviving economy, newspaper publishers are still struggling with soft ad sales, especially for their traditional print product. McClatchy and others continue to slash costs and look for new ways to boost their digital content and revenue.

Dex One's top executive, hired last year to revive the struggling yellow pages publisher, is trying to boost its stock price by buying more shares.

CEO Alfred Mockett purchased 200,000 shares at an average price of $4.10 each, the Cary company disclosed after the close of regular stock-market trading today. That's an investment of about $820,000.

So-called insider purchases can signal to other investors that top management believes that the stock is undervalued. The company is eager to reverse the stock's sharp slide.

The McClatchy Co. reported weaker fourth-quarter profit and revenue this morning, and the newspaper publisher warned that January brought bigger declines in advertising sales as the economic recovery remains shaky.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based publisher of The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and other newspapers across the country has been slashing costs to offset lower ad sales and to repay debt. McClatchy, like other media companies, was hit hard during the recession and is scrambling to beef up its online content as advertisers and readers migrate to the Internet.

For the final quarter of 2010, the company reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $33.6 million, or 39 cents per share. That was down from $49.6 million, or 59 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 5.9 percent to $369.9 million.

Shares of The McClatchy Co. and other newspaper publishers rose today after executives said that advertising trends continue to improve.

McClatchy, which owns The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, and other papers across the country, said that smaller declines in print advertising, increases in digital ads and cost cutting will help fourth-quarter results. Gannett Co., the publisher of USA Today and other dailies, gave a similar positive outlook today.

Newspaper publishers are seeking a revival after a rough few years as the recession hurt ad revenue and readers shift to online news.

McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt said at a investor media conference in New York that ad revenue for October and November was down 5.8 percent from a year earlier. That was an improvement from the 6.4 percent decline in the third quarter.

"We have seen improvement in revenues in every quarter in 2010," Pruitt said in a statement. "Looking forward to 2011, we expect advertising revenues to continue to improve, and we will remain vigilant in controlling expenses."