Rogers Media is the latest media company to announce staff cuts as advertising sales drop and the economy edges toward recession.
Affected employees were notified early yesterday, with other staff informed at meetings later in the morning.
Rogers Media is comprised of a broad range of TV, radio and magazine properties, including Citytv and Sportsnet, the Jack radio stations and CHFI radio in Toronto, along with Maclean’s, Chatelaine and Canadian Business. Rogers Media also owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club, as well as Marketing magazine.
“Conditions in the media industry—in Canada and globally—have been challenging due to the U.S. financial crisis, which has produced sharp decreases in advertising spending,” said Rogers Publishing president and CEO Brian Segal in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon. “We are expecting this to continue through most of 2009.”
Rogers Media spokesman Suneel Khanna confirmed cuts were made across all business units. While declining to say how many people were affected, he characterized the changes as “pretty minor” compared to recent layoffs at other media companies. Asked about the possibility of further staff reductions, Khanna said “There are no crystal balls…but we feel that today’s changes leave us well-poised for ’09.”
“The changes we are making will not only result in greater operating efficiencies, they will also provide us the opportunity to reallocate our resources against areas of our business where the market is telling us we need more people,” said Segal. “These changes will also allow us to maximize opportunities when the advertising market bounces back.”
Segal also said the company will be posting new positions in the near future, and launching new web properties in growing markets.
“The changes we are making today reflect our goal to save significant costs, to employ our editorial resources more efficiently and to beef-up our sales resources against areas where the market is telling us we need to be,” he said. “Our Consumer Marketing group will also increase its focus on revenue-generating areas.”
The staff cuts follow similar moves at Rogers’ competitors in recent weeks. With the economy in a significant downturn, advertising budgets are being tightened, delivering a direct hit to the bottom line of media companies.
In mid-November, CTVglobemedia president and CEO Ivan Fecan sent a letter to employees warning that falling advertising revenues would force the company to lay off workers and freeze hiring—last week it announced 105 employees would be let go. On Nov. 12, Canwest revealed it was cutting about 560 jobs, roughly 5% of its workforce, and while the CBC says it will try to avoid layoffs, the public broadcaster is imposing hiring restrictions and cutting travel and hospitality budgets.
The Rogers layoffs come on the same day that company founder and CEO Ted Rogers died at his Toronto home from congestive heart disease.
