Launches voluntary buyout program as part of efforts to cut salary expenses by 20 per cent
TORONTO (Reuters) - Postmedia Network Canada, one of the country's biggest newspaper publishers, reported a wider loss and a 13 per cent fall in fourth-quarter revenue on Thursday, as slower print sales outpaced its savings from cost cuts.
The publisher, which has slashed its workforce in recent years as print advertising revenue weakened, said it will cut more jobs. It launched a voluntary buyout program available to all employees as part of efforts to cut salary expenses by 20 per cent, it said.
The company earlier this month completed a recapitalization that saw its creditors get most of the equity in the publisher and sharply reduced its heavy debt burden.
Postmedia said it had a net loss of $99.4 million in the three months to the end of August, compared to a loss of $54.1 million a year earlier. Revenue fell to $198.7 million, from $230.2 million.
The company owns the National Post, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen and Sun tabloids in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Winnipeg.
The company in January cut 90 journalists, or about eight per cent of its editorial workforce, as it merged tabloid and broadsheet newsrooms in four cities after buying the Sun chain.
