Independent to cut 90 jobs

Independent News & Media plans to cut up to 90 jobs from its London-based titles in a move to save the company around £10 million.

INM also confimed that is currently “investigating the possibility” of outsourcing some areas of its London operation, which includes the Independent and its sister title, the Independent on Sunday.

This comes just weeks after the publisher said it was in talks with rival newspaper groups to combine its backroom functions, such as IT, HR and accounts in order to cut costs (see Daily Mail could make bid for the Independent).

The newspaper group admitted it has been in discussions with the Telegraph Media Group and Trinity Mirror, as well as the DMGT, about the possibility of sharing services to deliver “substantial efficiencies”.

However, it denied reports that the the two loss-making Independent titles were up for sale.

At the time, the Irish Times claimed that job losses were expected to happen at INM, reporting that its UK division would “suffer the heaviest cuts, with the group expected to seek 100 to 200 redundancies in the coming months, a reduction of up to 40% of its workforce.”

INM today confirmed that a restructuring programme for its London operation would result in redundancies across “all areas of the operation, but the majority will come from the editorial department”.

The company also said that a “sizeable number” will be voluntary redundancies, saving the company “in excess of £10 million”.

INM said: “As a management team, we would have been irresponsible had we not reacted to the economic conditions affecting every media business in the world, by looking at our own cost base.”

In the latest ABC results, both Independent titles reported relatively significant circulation declines – the Independent was down by around 16.3% year on year, leaving its total at just under 201,000 copies, while the Independent on Sunday fell by more than 21% year on year, leaving it with a circulation of less than 166,000 (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: October 2008).

Independent: 020 7005 2000 www.independent.co.uk