Evening Standard to shed jobs as it cuts costs

THE Evening Standard is planning to cut jobs as the newspaper merges its print and online teams in a costcutting drive.

George Osborne, the former chan- cellor, who took over as editor two years ago, told staff the title was facing a “tough economic market with rising costs” and needed to create a unified editorial department to remain profitable.

A formal consultation process has begun that could result in an unspeci- fied number of jobs going.

Applications for voluntary redundancy will also be considered, he said in a memo leaked to journalists outside the paper.

Manish Malhotra, group director of owner ESI Media, said the proposed measures would help the paper to achieve a “profitable and sustainable future”.

Staff will be forced to wait until the end of May before learning if their jobs will be cut.

The online and print divisions of the Evening Standard have a different focus, with the website running more stories about London and the paper carrying more national news. The Evening Standard, which distributes about 860,000 copies a day, made a £10m loss in the year to September 2017, down from £2.2m in profit the year before as print advertising revenues fell.

The advertising market has worsened since then as more companies prioritise digital channels.

The proposed editorial changes come months after it was revealed the Standard’s Russian owner, Evgeny Lebedev, sold a stake in its parent company Lebedev Holdings to a Saudi businessman.

Since Mr Osborne becoming editor, the Standard has run numerous frontpage stories criticising Theresa May and the Tories’ handling of Brexit negotiations.