Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers is understood to be planning to cut pagination for its four titles by up to 25%, as part of a cost -cutting drive that has already led to about 80 staff taking voluntary redundancy.
The publisher of the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday is seeking to cut £14m a year from its print and editorial budget.
Express Newspapers is thought to be seeking about £8m in savings from editorial, with about £6m coming from other areas such as production and supplier contract renegotiations.
One cost-cutting measure is understood to be an average of 25% of reduction in the pagination across the titles, with the exact amount varying depending on the day of the week and title. The Sunday Express has already started to feel the cuts, shrinking about 20%.
Management is also understood to be moving towards compulsory redundancies, following a round of voluntary departures, with a meeting about the proposed approach to cuts to be held with the National Union of Journalists in two weeks.
The publisher is seeking to make staff cuts of 30% – about 200 posts, equating to 150 full-time positions – to reduce editorial headcount from about 650 to 450.
It is understood that 79 staff have applied for voluntary redundancy, comprised of 48 staff, 20 casuals and 11 positions of people who left before the cuts programme began but have been counted towards the total target.
Express Newspapers had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
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