George Osborne, editor of the Evening Standard, has announced an imminent round of redundancies for the newsbrand’s editorial teams as it merges its digital and print operations.
“Together, in the last couple of years, we’ve redesigned the paper and invested heavily in our digital output,” Osborne wrote in an email to staff today.
“That’s why our print circulation has stayed steady as other papers have declined, our online readership has grown hugely and we’ve won awards. Now we need to adapt again.
“For, like everyone else in our industry, we are facing a tough economic market with rising costs. We need to ensure the Standard evolves to be profitable and keeps pace with our fast-changing society.”
Staff were told that details of the proposed new structures would be announced at the end of May, with those at risk of redundancy to also be informed at that time.
Elsewhere, Manish Malhotra, group managing director of parent company ESI Media, said the integration of the Evening Standard‘s print and digital editorial departments is an “important step” in its growth plan, as it looks to build a “profitable and sustainable future”.
“The changes will allow us to produce the best content and product for our influential audiences,” he added.
The news follows reports earlier this week that Evgeny Lebedev, the owner of the Evening Standard and the Independent, is in talks to sell London Live TV station to That’s Media.
The license for London Live TV, the capital’s first dedicated TV channel, was won by the Russian British businessman in 2013, and was part of a plan by the then-Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to launch local TV channels across the UK.
However, the channel never managed to make a profit, and has run up losses of £30m according to filings at Companies House.
According to the latest ABC figures, the London Evening Standard – a free paper – had a circulation of just over 874,000 copies in March, recording no change year-on-year.
