There's plenty of pain in the media business with layoffs becoming a common occurrence, especially in the newspaper sector. Here's a roundup of the latest casualties in the industry:
The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) announced Thursday it will layoff 100 people in its business operations department as well as cut salaries 5% and 2.5% at various units for a nine-month period. The salary reductions will affect employees at the Times, the Boston Globe, Boston.com and the company's corporate unit. MarketWatch reports salaries at About.com, the company's regional newspapers including the Worcester
Telegram & Gazette, will be reduced by 2.5%.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which is owned by privately held Cox Enterprises Inc., will reduce its full-time staff by 90 people or 30% to cut costs amid a major revenue slump. The AJC's news staff will fall to about 230 full-time positions, down from about 323. The moves come amid "unprecedented pressures on advertising revenues and the struggling economy," the company said in a press release.
The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y., cut another 11 employees in its second staff reduction since December, when Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:LEE) said it would cut its workforce by 10%.
Although the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. doesn't own newspapers, the publicly owned operator of national television and radio networks, has also been a major cog in the news industry in that country. It will lay off about 800 workers and try to sell assets to fight its budget deficit caused by slumping advertising. With 9,850 employees at CBC, the company expects the shortfall to hit C$171 million ($139 million) in its 2009-2010 fiscal year. - Gerald Magpily
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