News about plant closures, layoffs, and hundreds of jobs lost at RR Donnelley locations across the country has left employees, customers, and local communities asking the same question — is the company shutting down for good?
It’s a fair thing to wonder. When a plant closes in your town and hundreds of people lose their jobs, it feels like the company is collapsing. But the reality is more complicated than the headlines suggest. Here’s a clear look at what’s actually going on with RRD right now.
RR Donnelley Is Not Going Out of Business
Let’s get straight to the point. There is no credible evidence that RR Donnelley is filing for bankruptcy, going through liquidation, or shutting down as a company.
RRD is a private company owned by Chatham Asset Management and headquartered in Chicago. In 2022, the company reported approximately $5.37 billion in revenue and $161.4 million in net income. That’s a profitable company, not one circling the drain.
As of 2025, RRD still employs more than 35,000 people. Its website actively promotes services across marketing, packaging, print, and supply chain solutions. The company’s newsroom shows ongoing business activity, new client work, and strategic acquisitions — none of which are signs of a company winding down.
So the short answer is no — RR Donnelley is not going out of business. But that doesn’t mean everything is fine for every plant or every worker.
What RR Donnelley Actually Does Today
Understanding why some plants close while the company keeps operating requires knowing what RRD actually is today.
The company was founded in 1864 and built its reputation as one of the largest commercial printing firms in the world. For most of its history, RRD printed things — catalogs, magazines, newspaper inserts, financial documents, and direct mail at enormous scale.
But that’s not all it does anymore. RRD now positions itself as a marketing and communications solutions provider. Its current business lines include commercial printing, digital marketing, packaging, and logistics and supply chain services.
The company went private under Chatham Asset Management after a period as a publicly traded company and a corporate spin-off process. Going private meant less public scrutiny of its financials but also gave it more flexibility to restructure without the pressure of quarterly earnings reports.
The key takeaway: RRD is not just a print shop. It has been actively moving into areas where demand is growing, like packaging and digital marketing, while pulling back from older print formats where demand has fallen.
Plant Closures Are Real — But They Are Not the Same as Shutting Down
This is where the confusion comes from. When a local plant closes and 96 or 500 people lose their jobs, local news covers it. People search for answers. And “RR Donnelley closing” starts to sound like “RR Donnelley is gone.”
Think of it like a restaurant chain. If a McDonald’s in your town closes because it’s underperforming, McDonald’s as a company isn’t going anywhere. The same logic applies here.
In spring 2025, RRD announced the closure of its Seymour, Indiana facility at Freeman Field Industrial Park. The notice was filed with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Ninety-six workers lost their jobs permanently. That’s a real loss for those workers and for Seymour — but it doesn’t mean the broader company is collapsing.
Earlier closures tell the same story. The Lewisburg plant closed in 2021. A Jefferson City facility shut down, leaving roughly 500 employees without jobs. A video captured workers learning about that closure in real time — stunned and upset, as you’d expect. For those people, RR Donnelley was effectively done in their city.
But in each case, the company continued operating other facilities. Work from closed plants is typically rerouted to other RRD locations rather than simply dropped. Some workers have been reassigned to other plants as well, though that’s not guaranteed for everyone.
Why RRD Keeps Closing Plants — And Why That Trend Will Likely Continue
The closures aren’t random. They reflect real shifts in the industry and in how businesses communicate with customers.
Demand for traditional mass-print products — think newspaper inserts, large catalog runs, certain types of direct mail — has been declining for years. More advertising and customer communication has moved online. That means less need for the physical printing capacity RRD built up over decades.
At the same time, paper and ink costs have risen, and competition in commercial printing is intense. Running older or redundant facilities that aren’t operating at full capacity doesn’t make financial sense.
This isn’t unique to RRD. Consolidation is happening across the commercial printing industry. Companies that don’t adapt tend to disappear entirely. RRD is adapting — closing facilities that no longer justify their costs and investing in areas with better growth potential.
One concrete example of that strategy: RRD finalized an acquisition of digital and print marketing businesses from Vericast. That’s an expansion move, not a retreat. It shows the company is actively building out capabilities in digital marketing rather than just shrinking.
The honest outlook is that more plant closures are likely over time. But that’s a sign of an industry adjusting to new demand patterns, not a company falling apart.
What This Means If You Are an Employee, Customer, or Local Observer
If You Work at an RRD Facility
Pay attention to WARN Act notices. Under federal law, companies with 100 or more employees must give 60 days’ notice before a mass layoff or plant closure. These notices are often filed with state workforce agencies and are sometimes reported by local news outlets before the company communicates directly.
If you hear rumors about your plant, check with your state’s department of workforce development for any recent filings. Don’t rely solely on social media or coworker speculation.
Ask your HR department directly about severance, benefits continuation, and whether any transfer options exist to other RRD locations. Some workers have been moved to other plants, but it depends on the specific situation and available roles.
If You Are an RRD Customer
If the plant handling your account closes, RRD will typically notify you and explain how your work will be handled going forward. In most cases, production gets shifted to another facility within their network.
That said, it’s worth asking your account manager directly: which facility handles your work, and what’s the backup plan if that site closes? Getting a clear answer now is better than being caught off guard later.
RRD still actively services clients across marketing, packaging, print, and supply chain work. The company’s scale means it has options when one location goes offline.
If You Are Following This as a Local Observer or Community Member
Facility closures cause real economic harm to workers and towns. That impact deserves to be taken seriously, and local news coverage of those closures is legitimate and important.
But a plant closure headline is not the same as a company going bankrupt. It helps to separate the two when evaluating what’s actually happening. For broader business context and industry news like this, resources like InBiz can help you stay informed without the noise.
The Bottom Line
RR Donnelley is not going out of business. It’s a private company with billions in revenue, tens of thousands of employees, and active operations across multiple business lines. Plant closures are real and they hurt real people — but they reflect capacity consolidation and industry shifts, not corporate collapse.
The commercial printing industry is contracting in certain areas while growing in others. RRD is adjusting to that reality by closing older facilities, investing in digital and packaging capabilities, and rerouting work to more efficient operations.
If you have a direct stake — as a worker, a customer, or someone in a community affected by a closure — get specific information from official sources rather than relying on headlines or forum posts. The company is not disappearing, but individual plants and jobs are at ongoing risk as the industry keeps changing.
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