Tampa newspaper gets loan under coronavirus relief package

The Tampa Bay Times has received a Small Business Administration loan from a fund for businesses affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the newspaper announced Friday.

The pandemic and resulting lockdowns have caused advertising revenues at the Times to drop about 50 percent, prompting the company to cut printing and delivery to Wednesdays and Sundays and furlough dozens of employees, the majority of whom worked in the production, sales and delivery departments.

The $8.5 million loan is part of the $2.2 trillion package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in March.

“This loan gives us more time to ride out the crisis before we have to make even more changes,” Times chairman and CEO Paul C. Tash said in a statement. “It makes a big difference, and we are grateful for it.”

The company will be able to recall some furloughed employees and reverse a 10 percent pay cut set to extend through the first week of June, the newspaper said. The 15 percent cut implemented for the five senior-most executives will remain in place, according to the Times.

In addition to the Times, a portion of the loan will go other affiliates of the newspaper, including Florida Trend magazine and a group of weekly newspapers that cover Pinellas and Pasco Counties under the banner of Tampa Bay Newspapers, according to the Times.