The Telegraph is making up to 100 job cuts as it cites an ambition to transform into a “global, AI-powered” business, almost four months after its takeover by Axel Springer.
Staff were told in an email on Friday that The Telegraph needs “clearer accountability, faster decision-making and a simpler, more effective organisation” in order to evolve.
Staff were also told the publisher would “reinvent the reader experience” using AI, data and technology, and that its “next chapter” would focus on building revenue from “video, audio, puzzles, events, B2B, licensing, commerce and new products”, according to The Guardian.
It will also focus on growing its audiences outside the UK “particularly in foreign affairs, defence and business”.
When Axel Springer acquired the publisher in June, it said The Telegraph would “benefit from accelerated digital transformation, leverage AI to support innovation and growth, continue to develop its journalistic excellence, and expand into the US market”.
Axel Springer had promised investment in The Telegraph after it spent three years in ownership limbo, meaning staff were initially shocked by the scale of the cuts.
Hulshoff Pol wrote in the memo, seen by Press Gazette: “During the sale process, The Telegraph had limited ability to invest, adapt and move at the pace the market demanded.
“Our ambition is to transform The Telegraph from a leading British newspaper into a global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business – built on trusted journalism, direct relationships with our audiences and expertise that sets us apart.
“To deliver on this ambition, we need to change how we are organised, how decisions are made, where we focus our resources and create efficiencies. We need clearer accountability, faster decision-making and a simpler, more effective organisation.
“Today marks the start of a formal consultation process. These are difficult choices that we believe are necessary for the future of the business.”
Bloomberg News reported that The Telegraph plans to merge the comment and analysis, and features and lifestyle, teams.
Guido Fawkes reported cuts on the culture, fashion and sport desks, while the politics team was less affected.
The Telegraph’s UK website/app audience in August was 15.4 million, down by 11% compared to a year earlier according to Ipsos iris. Some 597.3 million minutes were spent with the brand online, a drop of 18%.
The title joins a wave of other major publishers making cuts this month, with Metro proposing 60 cuts across print and online and BBC News announcing plans to cut around 100 jobs in its latest cost-saving move.
In addition UK canine newspaper Our Dogs and Hyphen, a site focused on Muslim life in the UK and Europe, each separately closed and made around 18 people redundant.
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