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Brooks warns of job cuts at News International

By Andrew Pugh

News International has told staff to expect job cuts in coming months – with chief executive Rebekah Brooks warning that ‘tough decisions are coming”.

An email sent to staff this week said that ‘costs will need to be cut and savings made in overheads and personnel” following a review of its costs base.

Brooks said the company will now look to ‘streamline the business where there is common ground’and look into sharing services across its four titles where there is common ground in order to ‘free up sources for investment in content”.

Warning of ‘tough decisions’ahead, Brooks said the company would consult with News International-backed staff association (Nisa) before any cuts were made.

The news comes in the same week that News International announced a new managing editor structure, as it looks to move toward a “seven day” operation across its titles.

As part of the restructure Richard Caseby has been appointed group managing editor (NGN) for the The Sun and the News of the World, while Anoushka Healy has been group managing editor (TNL) for The Times and The Sunday Times.

Brooks admitted that the ongoing fallout from the phone-hacking investigation continues to challenge the company from a ‘reputational and resource perspective”, and that it has hired the UK law firm Olswang to ‘examine in great detail what we can learn from the past”.

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News International yesterday announced that there are now more than 100,000 digital subscribers to The Times and The Sunday Times – a 28 per cent increase from 79,000 in February 2011.

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