LONDON, United Kingdom -- Reach, publisher of UK newspapers Daily Mirror and Daily Express, plans to axe about 550 jobs as the coronavirus forces readers online and slashes advertising revenues, it said Tuesday.
"Structural change in the media sector has accelerated during the pandemic and this has resulted in increased adoption of our digital products," Reach chief executive Jim Mullen said in a statement.
"However, due to reduced advertising demand, we have not seen commensurate increases in digital revenue."
Reach said the company plans a reduction in headcount of about 550 staff, or 12 percent of its workforce -- as it looks to make annual cost savings of £35 million ($43 million).
The company, which owns also a number of UK regional newspapers, said the restructuring would cost the group £20 million.
"Editorial will move to a more centralised structure bringing together national and regional teams across print and digital to significantly increase efficiency and remove duplication while maintaining the strong editorial identity of our news brands," Reach said.
The company will also have "fewer locations and a simpler management structure", the statement said.
Reach added that its revenue slumped 27.5 percent in the second quarter, "impacted by reductions in circulation and advertising".
Agence France-Presse
New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr announced on Thursday that he was stepping down after 25 years at the helm of the renowned newspaper and handing over to his son.
Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, 37, known as A.G., will take over as publisher on January 1, 2018, the New York Times Co. said in a statement.
A.G. Sulzberger will be the sixth member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to serve as publisher since Adolph Ochs bought the newspaper in 1896.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, 66, who took over as publisher in 1992, will remain as chairman of the board of directors of the company, the Times said.
"This isn't a goodbye," Arthur Sulzberger said in a note to Times staff. "But, beginning in the new year, the grand ship that is The Times will be A.G.'s to steer."
Arthur Sulzberger said he was stepping down "prouder than I have ever been of the strength, independence and integrity of this institution."
A.G. Sulzberger praised his father's tenure, saying he had made "bold bets" which included "embracing the Internet."
"Arthur is the only publisher of his generation who took over a great news organization and left it better than he found it," he said.
"My focus as publisher will be on ensuring the continued journalistic excellence and commercial success of The Times through a period of transformation for the news industry," he added.
The Times, which President Donald Trump considers a nemesis and frequently derides as "failing," announced recently that it now has a record 3.5 million paid subscribers, both digital and print.
A.G. Sulzberger, a graduate of Brown University, worked as a reporter at The Providence Journal in Rhode Island and The Oregonian before joining the metro desk of the Times in 2009.
He notably authored the newspaper's 2014 Innovation Report, which looked at ways to grow the online audience in an era of shrinking print sales and advertising.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
