Cygnus Business Media employees were notified Monday that their 2009 salaries have been frozen. The salaries will be locked at the amount they were earning in 2008, according to an internal memo.

Maintaining salaries at 2008 levels better enables Cygnus to avoid other cost-cutting initiatives such as layoffs, a spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to FOLIO:. In fall 2006, Cygnus slashed employee salaries [0] by 7.5 percent and put hourly workers on a 37-hour workweek. Some salaries were restored [0] early last year in the form of a special bonus payment, representing about 70 percent of the initial reduction.

Cygnus has not implemented a hiring freeze, the spokesperson said, indicating that the company is hiring several positions, including sales and editorial. Cygnus’ 401K contribution program remains in place, the spokesperson said.

The news comes days after Cygnus said [0] co-CEOs Carr Davis and Tony O’Brien were stepping down. The pair have been replaced on an interim basis by Charlie Carnaval, an executive with Zolfo Cooper, a New York-based firm that specializes in corporate restructuring and interim management solutions.

The long-anticipated sale of Cygnus by ABRY Partners could be announced later this month, the company said [0].