THE owner of the Daily Mail newspaper is axing hundreds of jobs and closing offices to stem losses caused by plummeting advertising sales, the company revealed yesterday.
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said 400 job cuts were being made across the business as part of an overhaul plan under new chief executive Paul Zwillenberg.
The group is also considering closing some offices in London and New York to protect its profits. Many editorial and commercial redundancies have already been made within the 10,000-strong workforce.
Mr Zwillenberg is expected to detail the redundancy and cost-cutting plans in December.
DMGT blamed “challenging market conditions” and a 4 per cent decline in underlying advertising profit at both the Daily Mail and sister title the Mail on Sunday over the 11 months of its financial year so far.
The situation worsened in the five weeks since August 21, with those profits dropping by 10 per cent.
The company added: “Given the challenging market conditions facing certain businesses within the portfolio, reorganisation initiatives are being implemented to protect their profitability.”
But digital arm MailOnline, popular with readers looking for celebrity gossip, is off-setting the losses, with its advertising sales having increased by 18 per cent in the first 11 months of its financial year.
The supposedly left-leaning Guardian is also reported to be asking senior British expatriate staff to accept inferior US-style employment terms, including weaker rights to notice periods and sick pay, in an attempt to claw back losses after rapid expansion in the United States.
The Guardian announced earlier this month that it was cutting almost a third of its jobs in the US.