By: E&P Staff Sun-Times Media Group Inc. (STMG) will take an $8 million one-time pre-tax charge mostly related to the cost of laying off employees at its flagship Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers.
The charge stems from STMG's previously announced plans to chop $50 million from its annual operating costs before June.
"Sun-Times Media Group is taking the bold steps necessary for the long-term viability of the Company," STMG CEO Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. said in a statement. "We have made significant progress in a relatively short time period. These reductions come during a tough period for the news industry, but we firmly believe that resizing the organization and continuing to invest in growth areas, such as online media, are key to creating shareholder value."
STMG said headcount reductions will be continuing in advertising, circulation, distribution, editorial, executive, finance, information technology, marketing, and production departments.
In addition, the company has shrunk the page size of the Sun-Times, "resized the ratio of advertising to editorial content" in its newspapers, folded some suburban weeklies it said were unprofitable.
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