West Australian Newspapers cuts staff

Staff have been informed of job cuts to come, one month after Seven West Media made a Perth aquisition.

Kerry Stokes’ West Australian Newspapers recently acquired The Sunday Times in Perth.

Kerry Stokes’ West Australian Newspapers is cutting staff, just one month after parent company, Seven West Media, announced the acquisition of News Corporation’s The Sunday Times in Perth.

WAN publishes Perth masthead The West Australian and was merged with Seven Media Group in 2011.

In an email to staff, WAN chief executive officer Chris Wharton said the business faced challenges from an unstable economic environment and changes to the media industry.

“These changes will mean a number of positions across the organisation will become redundant,” he said.

“Every effort will be made to redeploy affected staff to other positions across the business, however opportunities will not be able to be found for everyone and some employees will end their employment with us.”

Staff will be informed of the decisions in coming weeks.

Seven has agreed to buy The Sunday Times and news website Perth Now, which will see the company publish seven days a week in the state.

The deal is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.