The Times to cut 10% of editorial staff amid losses and News Corporation split
Acting editor of The Times, John Witherow, has announced the title will cut around 20 positions - 10 per cent of the total editorial staff - as the paper struggles with losses.
Cut: Around 20 jobs are expected to go
Witherow told The Times: "For several years now Times Newspapers has been losing money. The company has tolerated this because it could use profits from elsewhere in News Corp to pay for our papers and because the proprietor has a passion for newspapers.
"I fear that era of being subsidised is coming to an end. The separation of the two companies means that the newspapers will form a bigger and more exposed element in the new New Corp."
Talk of an editorial merger is being kept "under review", according to Witherow, who said he saw "no great benefits at this stage" from merging, adding that commercial interests had to be taken into account.
"It is important as much for commercial reasons as editorial that we keep the characters of the papers separate and tis requires different staff in several areas," he said.
Rupert Murdoch announced last month that parent company News Corporation will split its cable/broadcast services and publishing businesses into two separate operations at the end of June. Murdoch will serve as chairman and chief executive of the new 21st Century Fox business, which will oversee the Fox network, National Geographic, Twentieth Century Fox Film and a 39.1 per cent stake in BSkyB.
He will also sit as executive chairman of the new News Corporation, which will hold book publisher Harper Collins, Australian TV business and digital education service Amplify as well as newspaper titles. Former editor of The Times and current managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, Robert Thomson, will be CEO of the new News Corporation.
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