Job cuts to fall at The Sun after pre-tax losses triple

Redundancies are coming at the Sun in print and online after publisher News Group Newspapers more than tripled its pre-tax losses last year.

Staff were told this week of plans to “reduce complexity” in the editorial and commercial departments and have been asked to consider applying for voluntary redundancy.

The plans affect staff at the Sun, the Sun on Sunday and Sun Online, although it’s not yet clear how many job cuts will be made.

A News UK spokesperson said: “News UK is in the process of reviewing all areas of its businesses to ensure we are maximising resources and to enable future revenue growth.

“As part of this process, we need to reduce complexity and review all of our costs so that we can focus our investment on delivering high-quality editorial content to existing and new audiences.

“Staff at the Sun have been invited to apply for voluntary redundancy. We cannot comment any further at the current time.”

NGN more than tripled its pre-tax losses to £91.2m in 2018, according to accounts published in January.

Its turnover fell 5 per cent year-on-year to £401.4m in the year to 1 July 2018, with an adjusted operating loss of £64.6m, down from a £7.7m loss on the year before.

The publisher blamed the fall in turnover on the “continuing industry-wide decline in print newspaper circulation in the popular segment”.

But it pointed out that total advertising revenue for the year increased for the first time in seven years with continuing declines in print “more than offset by growth in digital advertising”.

The Sun has the largest monthly reach of any UK national newsbrand across print and online and remains the UK’s best-selling daily newspaper.

The Sun’s circulation has fallen 8 per cent in the past year to 1,371,194 and the Sun on Sunday has dropped 9 per cent to 1,137,105.

Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville

Topics in this article : The Sun