an 80% stake in the business and handled all business functions of both papers, including printing, distribution, and selling advertising. The Post forwent Sunday publishing, a major advantage the Enquirer had over the Post. The Post eliminated 500 of 600 jobs as a result of the agreement. On April 10, 2000, the Enquirer and Post downsized from a traditional broadsheet format to an format similar to Berliner. They also began publishing in color every day of the week. Gannett promoted the narrower format as being "easier to handle, hold, and read" but also cited reduced newsprint costs. Decline and closure In a pattern seen throughout the industry, the Post declined severely during the 30-year term of the JOA, particularly during the 1980s. In 1977, when the agreement was announced, the Post had a daily circulation of 195,000, more than the Enquirer, but by September 2003, the Post's daily circulation had fallen to 42,219, or 23% of the Enquirer's 182,176. By this time, the Post had shifted its focus to the Kentucky edition, and sister station WCPO-TV more often partnered with the Enquirer than with the Post. In January 2004, the Enquirer informed the Post of its intention to let the JOA expire on December 31, 2007. That spring, the Post ended distribution in the northern suburbs in Butler and Warren counties to concentrate on Hamilton County and its Northern Kentucky edition. Also that year, political cartoonist Jeff Stahler left the Post for The Columbus Dispatch. In June 2005, the Post closed its Kentucky newsroom and announced early retirement offers to employees in advance of its probable closure. These changes resulted in profits of $23.5 million in 2005 and $20.7 million the following year. In 2006, the Post ended its 115-year practice of bundling the Cincinnati Post inside the Kentucky Post. By then, the Kentucky paper had eclipsed its Cincinnati counterpart in circulation, despite the Enquirer limiting distribution to certain parts of three Northern Kentucky counties. By 2007, the paper employed only 52 newsroom staff, while its circulation had declined to 27,000, an estimated four percent of local households. On July 17, parent company E. W. Scripps confirmed that both The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post would cease publication on the day of the JOA's expiration. The Post published its final print edition on December 31, 2007. The commemorative "Farewell Edition" led with the headline "-30-", meaning "the end" in