The Bee offered voluntary buyouts to the majority of its full-time employees Monday as its advertising slump continues and the newspaper scrambles for additional ways to cut costs.

The buyouts came two months after The Bee eliminated 86 jobs as part of an across-the-board layoff ordered by its parent, The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento. A companywide wage freeze was imposed by McClatchy two weeks ago. In July, The Bee unveiled a smaller print format, another way to save money.

But the economic downturn has deepened, and The Bee, like other papers, is still experiencing declining revenue.

"It's about continually looking at your work force and looking at your economic projections and trying to bring those in line," said Publisher and President Cheryl Dell. "We thought that we had that two months ago, but with the worsening economy we just need to do more."

She cited recent bankruptcies of several key advertisers, including Room Source, Linens N Things and Mervyns.

Dell said more layoffs are possible if there aren't enough buyouts. Yet some applications for buyouts may be rejected if there are too many takers.

Either way, she said it was premature to set a target for the number of buyouts because it's unclear how much further revenue will fall.

"We know we need to reduce expenses – it's unclear how much," she said.

The buyouts were offered to 55 percent of full-time employees and a small number of part-timers, Dell said. About 44 percent of all employees were offered buyouts.

The Bee is one of seven McClatchy papers to offer buyouts this month, including the Modesto Bee, Fresno Bee, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Kansas City Star, Wichita (Kan.) Eagle and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. McClatchy Treasurer Elaine Lintecum said there was no corporate edict on buyouts.

The Sacramento paper has made limited buyout offers before, but this marked its first-ever broad-based buyouts. Dell said employees were generally offered two weeks' pay for every year worked at The Bee, up to 40 weeks.

Newspaper cutbacks have become routine. The nation's largest chain, Gannett Co. Inc., eliminated 1,000 newspaper jobs recently. Cox Enterprises Inc. put all but three of its papers up for sale. The (Portland) Oregonian offered buyouts.

Melanie Sill, The Bee's editor and senior vice president, said buyouts were offered to about 200 of the 240 full-time-equivalent news staffers. The paper will have to focus more intensely on "the most important areas of coverage," she said.

"Obviously you can do more if you have more people," she said. "Our approach through this whole period of downsizing has been to prioritize … and we'll continue to do that."

Eligible employees were handed buyout packets Monday morning.

"It's something that's going to have to be seriously considered," said Mike Dunne, the paper's food and wine writer and a 30-year Bee veteran. "I've got to look over the plan, talk with my wife."

McClatchy, the third largest U.S. chain, is suffering more than most because of its heavy concentration in California and Florida. The two states generate one-third of McClatchy's revenue and are among the areas hardest hit by the housing slump.

Ad revenue is off more than 22 percent this year at the California and Florida papers vs. 16.5 percent for the company. Total revenue, including circulation, is off 15 percent.

One ray of hope at The Bee, Dell said, is that Sacramento entered the downturn early "and there's a general belief that we'll come out of this earlier."

McClatchy is further burdened by $2 billion in debt remaining from its takeover of Knight Ridder Inc., and so far this year its profits have fallen by half, to $18.8 million. McClatchy said it might reduce its shareholder dividend.

McClatchy stock, already off 85 percent in the past year, closed Monday at $3.54, down 4 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.

The June layoffs eliminated 10 percent of the company's jobs. The Bee erased 8.1 percent of its approximately 1,000 staff positions, about half through layoffs.

Call The Bee's Dale Kasler, (916) 321-1066.