Canwest Global is cutting 560 jobs – about five per cent of its total workforce – as its stock price continues to plummet.
The company announced today it is cutting about 210 jobs in its broadcasting division and about 350 jobs in its publishing division.
Canwest controls newspapers and TV stations across the country, including Global B.C. and the Vancouver Sun and the Province.
The company announced today that it is “streamlining” operations to save $61 million. Canwest stock has been dropping steadily; it fell seven cents to 84 cents today on the TSX.
Two years ago it was trading in the $11 range.
A Canwest press release said the 560 jobs will be cut through “voluntary buyouts, attrition and reductions.”
In the release, company president and CEO Leonard Asper said “it was a very difficult decision to implement staff reductions.” However, he said, “we believe that these actions are required to enable Canwest to maintain its strength, build market position and be ready at the first sign of an economic recovery.”
The release said that “the development and creation of news and information will not be impacted by the changes.”
The perpetually money-losing National Post will “institute changes to accelerate its road to profitability by focusing on its profitable markets, reducing unproductive and deeply discounted circulation and utilize new technology that enables it to better target key high value readers while increasing web engagement with its brands,” the release said. “In total, these initiatives are expected to reduce costs on an annualized basis by between $35 million and $40 million.”
Last month, Asper said in a memo to all Canwest staff that the company’s “underlying fundamentals are solid” despite a dropping stock price.
“We may have to make some difficult choices however, as we can not pretend it is business as usual,” he added.
Tom Barrett is a contributing editor at The Tyee.
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Grumpy
3 years ago
Boo hoo hoo.........
.....the Asper Empire is sinking faster than the Titanic! The CanWest/Global empire has been living on borrowed time and I can't wait for the gory end.
Sally Bowles
3 years ago
Most of my favourite writers
Most of my favourite writers were released by Hollinger and Aspers years ago. I haven't read their papers in ages.
amherst
3 years ago
I'd miss it
Grumpy - careful what you wish for. The Post may only be a shadow of its former self. It may lean to the centre right generally too much for a majority of Canadians. Mostly in losing as many great writers as it has, competing with a greatly improved Globe... it still has the best TV critic in the biz! But really the Post will go down in history for the bold changes it brought to Canadian papers across the country. It made them all better to look at and to read. I wish they were not so dominant in Vancouver but the lack of any emerging competition may be part of the general decline in a very expensive to operate industry. I know people 'round here have a problem with Canwest but I think we'd be much poorer without the Nat'l Post in our society.