Indie group to shed ad staff

by John Reynolds, mediaweek.co.uk 25-Nov-08, 07:30

LONDON - The Independent and The Independent on Sunday are to cut more than 10% of their combined commercial staff, the bulk of them from classified, as part of its cost-cutting move announced last week.

Commercial staff went into a 30- day consultation last week over the changes, with Independent News & Media hoping the majority will take voluntary redundancy.

Across the two papers' 75-strong commercial operation, made up of 45 in classified and 30 in display advertising, INM is poised to cut six jobs in classified and two in display.

The cuts form part of an overall reduction of 90 jobs across the two titles, unveiled last week, in a move aimed at saving more than £10m annually.

More jobs will be cut from the two titles' classified team as revenue per head is thought to lower than in the display operation.

Daryl Fielding, commercial director of the newspapers, said that trading for December has "been better than anticipated", but admitted "January would be challenging".