The Sanoma Group, which has some 10,000 employees in a dozen countries, plans to consolidate all of its Finnish media operations into one company as of the start of 2014.
Sanoma says it will close down its Nelonen TV news department in its current form. It may also reorganise the editorial departments of its flagship daily Helsingin Sanomat and the commuter freesheet Metro.
The biggest job cuts are to come in Sanoma’s Dutch consumer media operations. It plans to streamline its current offering of 49 print titles to just 17.
Redundancy talks with some 500 people begin next week. The English press release simply states that "this restructuring is expected to affect approximately 500 FTEs" (full-time employees), while the Finnish statement says that it is expected to lead to a loss of 500 jobs.
Hanna Johde of Sanoma’s Group Communications admitted to Yle News that the statements were "inconsistent", and that 500 job cuts are expected.
The firm made the announcements as it posted third-quarter results. They showed a slump of more than five percent in net sales, adjusted for changes in the Group structure. Sanoma predicts that its consolidated net sales will be down by more than four percent for the year compared to 2012.
