Media Relations

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Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL) reported a net loss of net loss of $86.5 million, or $2.33 per share for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to net income of $4.1 million, or $0.14 per share for the a year earlier.

The company said first quarter 2009 results include a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $45.0 million and a securities impairment charge of $36.4 million (net of tax), essentially comprising a non-cash write down of its holdings of Bank of America (BofA) preferred stock, as these securities were cut to below investment grade by credit rating agencies.

Western Alliance said that despite the credit downgrade, the its holdings of Bank of America rank pari passu with the preferred stock issued by Bank of America to the United States Treasury under the TARP program.


In March, employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions involving 299,388 workers, the highest levels on record. Mass layoff events increased by 164 from February, and initial claims increased by 3,911. Twenty-six states reached program highs for March in terms of average weekly initial claims.

Additionally, new jobless claims rose more than expected last week. Both figures are fresh evidence layoffs persist amid a weak job market that is not expected to rebound anytime soon.

The Labor Department said today that initial claims for unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 640,000, up from a revised 613,000 the previous week. That was slightly above analysts’ expectations of 635,000. The number of workers continuing to filing claims for unemployment benefits topped 6.1 million.

Jobless claims have historically peaked six to 10 weeks before recessions end. Initial claims reflect the level of job cuts by employers. However, the latest report shows job losses remain high. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out volatility, dropped slightly to 646,750, about 12,000 below the peak in early April.

In another sign of labor market weakness, the number of people continuing to claim benefits rose to 6.13 million, setting a record for the 12th straight week. As a proportion of the work force, the total jobless benefit rolls are the highest since January 1983. The continuing claims data lag initial claims by a week. The high level of continuing claims is a sign that many laid-off workers are having difficulty finding new jobs.

Employers have cut 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007 in an effort to slash costs as consumers and businesses have sharply reduced spending. The department said earlier this month that companies cut a net total of 663,000 jobs in March, sending the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent, the highest in 25 years.

The cuts reflect the depth of the downturn, which has been global in scope. The International Monetary Fund estimated Wednesday that the global economy would shrink 1.3 percent this year, the first drop in more than six decades. The IMF projects the U.S. economy will decline 2.8 percent, the worst since 1946.

Among the states, Florida saw the largest increase in claims with 9,303 for the week ending April 11, which it attributed to more layoffs in the construction, service and manufacturing industries. The next largest increases were in Pennsylvania, California, Wisconsin and New York.

Michigan saw the largest drop in claims with 12,566, which it said was due to fewer layoffs in the automobile industry. The next biggest declines were in North Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Oregon.

You don’t sit at your desk all day, waiting for a phone call from journalists. Similarly, reporters don’t sit at their desks waiting for news about your company. In fact, given today’s smaller news staffs (because of reduced advertising revenues) and their increasingly busy workdays, there’s a very good chance reporters may not even see your news release.

Distribution of a release via PR Newswire or BusinessWire will ensure that it reaches key news outlets, news databases and online news portals. But these services are simply the electronic equivalent of dropping a document on the receptionist’s desk. They do not guarantee that the journalists who actually report for the media important to your company will ever see your news release, much less appreciate its importance.

A reporter for a local newspaper may receive up to 100 releases a day, and countless additional emails. Journalists on major national publications are besieged by several times this number. You may think your news release is very important, but to a journalist it will be just one item in a stack, unless you differentiate it. How do you make it stand out? Read the rest of this entry »