As a result of shifting attitudes towards traditional advertising, News Corp has announced major cuts to its Australian arm. The publishing house has confirmed it will be cutting $40 million from the business as the result of advertising revenue decline in the last quarter. It is not confirmed whether redundancies will form a part of these changes, but reports the Australian Financial Review: “It is understood that these costs will come across the local business and will include redundancies.”
Chief financial officer Bedi Singh tells Mumbrella the changes will be made in the next few months. “While we continue to benefit from the cost reduction program that News Australia announced in the second half of 2016 – which totalled around 5 per cent of the cost base – we are now embarking on further cost initiatives. We expect an additional $AU40m in cost savings this fiscal year while we continue to push digital initiatives more broadly,” he says.
A News Corp spokesperson says the latest changes are not dissimilar to those experienced by the publishing industry as a whole. “While these results reflect the strength of our digital real estate business and higher digital revenues, they also show that our business, like other publishers globally, is experiencing some challenges, particularly in print advertising.
“In order to offset those challenges, we will introduce a series of cost initiatives across the business which will allow us to continue our commitment to journalism in print and digital while focussing on opportunities for digital innovation and improvement. This is about working harder and smarter and moving resources into areas where they will deliver the most value,” the spokesperson continues.
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