Meredith Cuts 60 Jobs

About 20 layoffs come from magazines; publisher attributes to down ad revenues.

By Joanna Pettas
06/05/2008

Meredith Corporation has become the latest magazine publisher to reduce its workforce, today cutting 60 jobs and opting not to fill 60 open positions. Twenty of the layoffs come from its magazine business, a Meredith spokesperson tells FOLIO:.

The layoffs are “very selective,” according to the spokesperson, and include staffers in editorial, sales, production, digital imaging and other areas.

About a third of the eliminated positions are from Meredith’s book division while the other third are from its broadcasting division. The 60 open positions being eliminated are company-wide, the spokesperson says.

Meredith attributes the cuts to soft retail sales, noting also that fiscal fourth quarter 2008 advertising revenues are down about 15 percent from the same quarter in 2007.

The layoffs were announced as part of a release about the publisher’s acquisition of Big Communications, a Ferndale, Michigan-based pharmaceutical and biotech marketing firm. Big Communications will operate as a division of Meredith Integrated Marketing, the company’s custom marketing unit.

According to the spokesperson, the acquisition helps Meredith increase non-advertising sources of revenue and opens a new area for the company in the b-to-b space. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier this week, Reed Business Information eliminated 41 positions company-wide as part of a restructuring effort.

COMMENTS: 3

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What the?

Submitted by Anonymous Yokel on Thu, 06/05/2008 - 16:27.

Where the uproar, guys!? 60 people are losing their jobs from Meredith, 41 at Reed. Jason Fell's report on Cygnus's casual Tuesday got a bigger response in the commentary section.

too sad for uproar

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 15:29.

I am so disheartened about what's happening to our industry that I've pretty much lost hope. Thus, not enough spirit left to make an uproar. And that's the saddest thing of all.

Very sad...

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 16:27.

You are both right. It is sad to see so many people losing their jobs and there is hardly a peep made. My beloved print is dying a slow and painful death and it just kills me to see my publishing friends out of work. As an added bonus, those who are left are so defeated and cynical it doesn't surprise me that the "jeans" post had so many comments. Morale at these companies is in the basement, which does make for a less productive employee because all they do is worry about their next paycheck. As a result the downward spiral continues.