Newspaper selloff: 60 jobs at risk

Media company Stuff is planning to sell or close some of its smaller community and rural newspapers, in a move that could affect 60 jobs.

Chief executive Sinead Boucher said yesterday that 28 mastheads would be affected, while reiterating Stuff’s plans to grow its digital business.

The company was still working through plans for each of the titles and consultation with staff would occur over coming weeks, she said.

The sales or closures are expected to happen over the next six months, before the end of the company’s financial year.

Boucher said Stuff was always looking at its product mix but it had stepped up its consideration of the future of the papers in question over recent weeks.

She said there were already expressions of interest for some of the 28 papers. The Kaikoura Star is the only paid title affected.

The papers make up about 35 per cent of Stuff’s print products.

E tu spokesman Sam Gribben said the union would consult with members to get a fuller picture of the changes before commenting.

Yesterday Stuff’s Australian parent company, Fairfax Media, reported its net profit for the six months to the end of December fell by more than half to A$38.5 million

(NZ$41 million).

The company said its ‘‘underlying’’ profit for the period was down by 10 per cent at A$76m.

Locally, Stuff’s revenues fell by

5 per cent to NZ$160m, as 33 per cent growth in its digital revenues failed to offset a decline in print advertising. Operating expenses were 1 per cent lower.

Its operating profit fell 24 per cent to NZ$21m – which represented a decline of 15 per cent after the impact of the one-time items and its investment in internet provider Stuff Fibre were excluded.