MediaWorks announces 130 job losses

10:57 am on 25 May 2020

MediaWorks has announced that 130 staff are being redundant in its radio and sales teams.

The MediaWorks property on Flower Street in Auckland central.

The MediaWorks property on Flower Street in Auckland central. Photo: Google Maps

The media company owns the Three and Bravo televisions channels and The Edge, The Rock, More FM and the Breeze radio networks.

Chief executive Michael Anderson told his staff, in an email, the plans for the restructure on Monday morning.

"As you know, Covid-19 has simultaneously changed the world and impacted our business in ways that we could not predict or prepare for," Anderson said in his email.

"It has also completely changed the market that we operate in and this means that we must adapt to ensure our survival and sustainability in the coming months.

"As of today, we must begin reducing the size of our business and we are now entering a restructuring process across our sales, out-of-home and radio divisions.

"MediaWorks needs to be a different shaped business to operate in a different world."

In April, Anderson asked staff to take a voluntary 15 percent pay cut for six months, saying the company had lost revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pay cut request applied to all staff across the company's radio, digital and TV arms, including management and executives.

MediaWorks owns roughly half the country's radio stations and the Newshub brand. It put its unprofitable TV arm, Three, up for sale in October last year.

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