Persgroep to cut 131 positions

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 8, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Persgroep Publishing, a Belgian newspaper group is to cut 131 jobs at its de Volkskrant and Trouw newspapers, reports Dutch News.

Persgroep took over the PCM newspaper group earlier this year as the company faced serious debt issues. The deal made Persgroep the single owner or all Dutch national dailies, except the Telegraaf and the Financieele Dagblad, forcing the group to put up the popular NRC Handelsblad for sale in order to meet competition authority objections.

The jobs cuts are suspected to arise from a drop in subscription numbers, an important source of revenue accounting for 90 per cent of all Dutch newspaper sales. Fifty per cent of Dutch households currently subscibe to a newspaper, a drop from the 62 per cent that subscribed in 1997.

The dwindling numbers are blamed on younger generations and city dwellers, with the 25 to 45 age group proving to be the least likely to subscribe to a newspaper, according to national statistics office CBS. As digital news takes off, many in this age bracket are seeking their news via other means. NRC Handlesbald has been trying to grapple this digital shift, being particularly proactive in producing e-papers and multiplatform news services.

The news comes in a general climate of jobs cuts and layoffs. Last week the Washington Times announced it would layoff 40 per cent of its staff, whilst the London Evening's Standard's decided to make 20 employees redundant after ceasing production of its midday News Extra edition.

Persgrouep's de Volkskrant is one of 57 newspapers from 46 countries across the globe which published a joint editorial commentary yesterday, at the summit in Copenhagen to tackle the issue of climate change.

Source: Dutch News