News Corp to cut sales staff, up to 80 jobs to go

News Corp Australia will make up to 80 roles in its sales workforce redundant, while editorial staff await their fate amid the media company’s most significant restructure in more than a decade.

The cuts come during an advertising downturn affecting the whole media industry and the company’s bid to find up to $65 million in savings.

News Corp Australia owns a range of local assets including The Australian, the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The Murdoch-controlled media company has already restructured its individual state sales teams into one national division and streamlined its publishing assets under three divisions.

News Corp Australia executive chair Michael Miller was expected to inform staff in a wider email on Wednesday, said two sources with knowledge of the decision. He told staff this month in an email he would have more information to share by June 12. Some staff have already been made aware of the decision.

“We will try to minimise these impacts as much as possible and will treat our affected colleagues with the utmost of respect,” Miller said at the time.

A News Corp spokesperson said the company did not comment on employment matters, but later updated their statement, saying that claims of 40 per cent of sales staff being made redundant was “wildly inaccurate”.

The new divisions include one that houses prestige titles The Australian and Vogue, led by Nicholas Gray.

News.com.au is housed in a division known as “free news and lifestyle”, published by Pippa Leary, and includes wire service NCA and lifestyle publications such as Stellar magazine.

Mark Reinke is leading a new “state and community mastheads” division, housing the state tabloids.

The editor-in-chief of free news website news.com.au, Lisa Muxworthy, has so far been the highest-profile departure. Company veteran Peter Blunden, who helmed its national news team Network, has reduced his responsibilities. He retains his title of executive editor, however.

Muxworthy’s role was made redundant; The Daily Telegraph’s weekend editor, Mick Carroll, now oversees news.com.au and other titles in the free and lifestyle division in a newly created role. The Network team has fallen under Telegraph editor Ben English’s expanded remit.

Like other media companies, News Corp is facing a revenue hole as a result of social media giant Meta’s unwillingness to renegotiate commercial deals as part of the news media bargaining code.

It is also grappling with a near-unprecedented weak advertising market.

News Corp Australia attributed its 10 per cent revenue slump in the most recent March quarter largely to lower advertising revenue.

Management leading the new structure have been directed to complete the redundancy rounds by June 30.

Some senior executives have already begun posting their departures on LinkedIn. Those including Alexandra Bliekast, the company’s head of national trading and NSW consortium agencies, and Michael Desiere, one of its longest-serving executives in New South Wales.

Last week at the National Press Club in Canberra, Miller defended News Corp’s $US250 million ($376 million) deal with artificial intelligence company OpenAI.

He said rumours that more than 100 journalist roles would be cut were just speculation.

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