Belo Corp., Dallas, will freeze its $410.5 million G.B. Dealey Retirement Pension Plan to current employees as of March 31, according to a news release. Belo will add five years of service to employees' pension plan calculations on March 31 and will make supplemental annual contributions to their 401(k) accounts from April 1, 2007, through March 31, 2012. The supplemental contributions will be based on age, pay and years of service, said spokesman Carey Hendrickson. The plan was closed to new employees in July 2000.
The new benefits are designed to approximate what participants would have received if the pension plan had continued for another 10 years, according to the release.
As of April 1, the company's 401(k) plan will offer an automatic contribution of 2% of eligible compensation, and a company match of 75 cents to the dollar, up to 6% of pay. The plan now offers a match of 55 cents and no automatic contribution. The 401(k) plan had $460 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2005, according to an 11-K filing.
"The goal is to manage ongoing retirement benefits responsibly in order to ensure Belo's long-term prosperity," Robert W. Decherd, Belo's chairman, president and CEO, said in the release. "This decision will strengthen our company's ability to compete successfully in the future as our industries continue to change rapidly."
The defined benefit plan is named after G.B. Dealey, who served as publisher of the Dallas Morning News until 1940.
