Emap Performance: redundancies
Emap has announced a wave of job cuts on its music titles following a big fall in sales reported in the latest ABCs. Among the titles affected by the redundancies will be Q, Mixmag, Kerrang! and Smash Hits! Emap declined to comment on the posts that have been singled out, but said there were “fewer than five” job losses in editorial. Top management posts within Emap Performance, the group which includes the music titles, are expected to be axed. Emap marketing director Malcolm Cox announced his departure this week after 14 years.
A spokeswoman said it was part of a strategy to make sure the magazines were in the right place for future growth. “We are in a consultation period with some people. We are talking about a handful of editorial jobs and no decisions have been made.
“We have been looking at the business to ensure we are investing in the right places and we have got the right people in the right jobs.”
The full extent of the shake-up is not likely to be known until the end of the month, when the consultation period comes to an end.
The cuts follow the appointment of Emap Performance’s new managing director, Marcus Rich, in October.
Four out of the six titles produced by Emap Performance reported a year-onyear decline last month. Kerrang! fell 17.7 per cent, Mixmag fell 16.5 per cent, Smash Hits! slipped 21.2 per cent and Q was down 10.3 per cent. Rich is believed to have put a new music title on hold until the circulations of the existing titles start to improve.
A source said: “It’s not the night of the long knives, but it is big rationalisation.
This will hit morale and it has already created bad feeling. Some people have been there a long time and feel the deals they have been offered aren’t big enough. People feel they are being completely undervalued.”
By Ruth Addicott
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