News UK Commercial team braced for redundancies in restructure
A number of workers at News UK Commercial are facing redundancy as part of a restructure in the sales department.
Appointment: David Wilcox will take up head of news role
A spokesman for News UK declined to comment on how many jobs are at risk but told The Drum that a “small number” of roles were going under consultation.
The news came as the department announced the appointment of David Wilcox as head of news following a stint as group sales manager for The Sun.
“Davild Wilcox’s appointment is the final one to be made alongside head of title management, head of lifestyle, head of digital and head of trading as part of a move towards a customer-focused, multi-platform ad sales environment.
“Today we are also embarking on a wider change to the sales structure at News UK Commercial underneath the ‘heads of’ part of our commitment to improve the way we work with our advertising partners by being agency led and platform agnostic.
“As a result of this process a small number of roles will be under consultation. No decisions have yet been made regarding these roles but we anticipate that there may be some redundancies.”
Wilcox’s appointment follows that of Chris Turner as head of title management, Tammy Wilson as head of lifestyle, Oliver Lewis as head of digital and Graeme Symon as head of trading.
Brendan Judge, sales director for News UK Commercial, said: “Our new strategy has been to focus on a platform agnostic approach so that we can offer our clients edition-led audience opportunities rather than advertising spaces dictated by our title portfolio.
“I am positive that David will rise to the challenge that this crucial role provides.”