Nine Entertainment has become the third Australian publisher to announce mass lay-offs in the past four weeks following the loss of a lucrative content deal with Meta and a slump in the advertising market.
The newspaper owner and TV broadcaster said it would eliminate 200 roles, or about four per cent of its almost 5000 staff.
Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby told staff in a memo on Friday the media business was in a stronger position than its rivals but was not immune to economic headwinds impacting many companies globally.
Media release: Australia's largest commercial media organisations must commit to quality journalism rather than look for easy savings by cutting editorial job. — MEAA (@withMEAA) https://t.co/Dp5UqRy9pA #MEAAmedia pic.twitter.com/9VMqbjuuWvJune 28, 2024
Some of the job losses would come from axing vacant positions and new roles would be found for some whose positions were being cut, but others would be made redundant.
"It is not something we want to do but it is something we need to do to continue to build on a successful platform of high-quality journalism and digital subscription growth," Mr Sneesby said in an email.
The Australian Financial Review, a Nine publication, reported between 70 and 90 positions would go at its publishing business, which includes The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Another 38 jobs would be cut from TV news and current affairs, with the remainder from corporate and digital, the report said.
Mr Sneesby emphasised Nine remained in a strong position.
"All of our business units are either completely digital or have rapidly growing digital revenues - and each one maintains a leading position in their respective markets," he said.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said its members at Nine's masthead division passed a motion of no confidence in Mr Sneesby on Friday afternoon.
The Nine lay-offs are the third by a major Australian media outlet since the loss of the Meta deal. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)
They were angry the newspapers had been disproportionately targeted for cuts and the redundancies had been announced during talks for a new enterprise bargaining agreement, MEAA media acting director Michelle Rae said.
"Nine management has not put a serious offer on the table," she said, adding any editorial cuts would mean reduced coverage and result in a less-informed Australian public.
Friday's announcement is the third major set of redundancies by a major Australian media outlet in recent weeks following the loss of the multimillion-dollar Meta deal.
Seven West Media on Tuesday proposed axing up to 150 roles including journalists from TV and print divisions as well as sales, marketing and print staff, according to several media reports.
"While we have controlled costs in recent years and our content is doing well across TV, digital and print, our high cost base of about $1.2 billion a year is not sustainable and needs to be reduced," chief executive Jeff Howard said in a memo obtained by the Daily Mail.
"A number of roles across the company will change and unfortunately some people will be leaving us."
Facebook owner Meta will not renew content deals with major Australian news publishers. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Mr Howard said the need to reduce costs had been created by factors including the shift from watching linear TV to streaming, the rise of Netflix and Amazon and others, and their launch of ad-funding models.
But Meta deciding not to renew the content deal "certainly has not helped", he said.
Under pressure from the government, Meta in 2021 signed confidential three-year deals with 13 Australian news companies to compensate them for their content.
Meta has declined to renew the pacts, which were reportedly worth about $70 million a year for the Australian news industry.
In late May, News Corp Australia began restructuring, which included an unknown number of job losses.
Ms Rae called on the federal government to "designate" Meta under the bargaining code.
That would force the Facebook and Instagram owner to the negotiating table or risk fines, but might also result in it pulling news from its platforms altogether.