Time for transformation as print decline starts to hurt
Desperate fight for survival in the new digital age to come with sacrifices
TIME is firing 300 employees through lay-offs or buyouts as the struggling publisher tries to transform its declining print business for the digital age.
The job cuts were announced in an inter nal memo from chief executive Rich Battista, who said a key component of his turnaround strategy is making the company more efficient and reinvesting those resources in growth areas.
“Today we took a difficult but necessary step in that plan,” Battista said.
Battista did not specify the areas of the company that will see the cuts which amount to 4% of Time’s total workforce. Before the reduction, Time had about 7 450 employees globally, according to its latest annual report.
Last month, the owner of Sports Illustrated and People announced it is planning to sell some magazines or other properties as it tries to push ahead with a digital strategy and move past months of talks with potential buyers.
In April, Time announced it was sticking with its online strategy rather than selling itself after months of negotiations with potential suitors such as the Meredith Corporation.
The New Yorkbased magazine was said to be holding out for more than $20 (R257) a share.
Like other magazine publishers, Time is struggling to reinvent itself as print advertising dries up and the lion’s share of digital advertising dollars goes to Facebook and Google.
The magazine owner has spent months restructuring and replacing senior management, hoping to persuade advertisers to pour money into its magazine titles. Later this year, Time plans to introduce a Sports Illustrated online video service with documentaries and insights from the magazine’s reporters, part of its growing push into video. –Bloomberg
Today we took a difficult but necessary step