Journal's EVP/Finance & Strategy & CFO Andre Fernandez says, "While debt reduction remains our primary use of cash, this share repurchase authorization provides us with the flexibility both to offset the dilutive impact of employee incentive compensation plans and to repurchase shares opportunistically." This marks the first time Milwaukee-based Journal has authorized a repurchase of their stock shares since 2006-2008, when it bought back 22.6 million shares, worth an estimated $235 million. This latest authorization is effective until the end of 2013.