Bauer Media cuts costs at Empire with redundancies and more repurposed UK content
Bauer Media’s Empire Australia magazine has made a number of staff redundant and will re-purpose more content from the UK in an effort to cut costs.
The shift sees magazine production now overseen by editor Tim Keen “using freelance resources where necessary”.
It is unclear how big the Empire team was prior to the changes.
A Bauer Media spokesperson said: “The Australian edition of Empire will be taking more of the content from the UK edition as there is considerable overlap with editorial.
“Empire will still produce Australian content for each issue. It will be overseen by the editor, using freelance resources where necessary.
“As a result of this change a small number of redundancies have been made. We thank them for their hard work and dedication.”
The repurposing of content could be one major way the under-pressure Bauer executive team will look to cut costs across its portfolio as it streamlines the company, with several of its less well circulating mastheads having sister publications overseas.
Speaking with Mumbrella in August regarding the audit figures, Bauer Media CEO Nick Chan said it was Cosmopolitan’s ability to pick up international content that made it distinct from the defunct Cleo.
“Cosmo is distinct from Cleo, as Cleo was a local magazine and we had to generate a fair amount of editorial ourselves, whereas Cosmo is a licensed product, a joint-venture with Hearst and we have the advantage of being able to pick up international content on this; it has a lower cost base,” he said.
Chan would not be drawn on what the plan is for Cosmo; however, he rejected speculation that the magazine would go bi-monthly.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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“It is unclear how big the Empire team was prior to the changes.”
This should probably read, “it’s not clear to Mumbrella”, because it’s clear to plenty of people at Bauer.
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