Postmedia plans to cut salary expenses by 20 per cent through buyouts
Posted Oct 20, 2016 01:37:33 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Postmedia says it plans to reduce its salary costs by 20 per cent through voluntary staff buyouts, adding that layoffs are possible if its target isn’t met.
The company says staff have until Nov. 8 to apply for the buyouts. The cuts will come from all levels and operations in the company.
In January, Postmedia cut 90 jobs and merged newsrooms in four cities, but maintained separate newspapers in each location following its acquisition of Sun Media’s English-language newspapers and digital properties last year.
It had been grappling with how to tackle its $648-million-dollar debt and those layoffs were part of cost-cutting measures.
The company aimed to reduce its annual operating expenses by $80 million. Postmedia said it is just $5 million shy of reaching that goal, which it expects to do by the end of the first quarter of its 2017 financial year.
In July, the company announced a debt-restructuring plan that would see its total amount owed slashed by nearly half. The Ontario Superior Court as well as the company’s shareholders and debt holders approved the plan last month.
