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Fighting for journalism and profitable news media
36 staff exit as Indy takes over Standard website | Major Bauer digital restructure
And how one company built £14m business by buying up niche B2B titles
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Good morning from the team at Press Gazette on Monday, 20 April.
Press Gazette’s spring conference for media leaders discussing revenue trends for the year ahead takes place on this Wednesday at South Place Hotel in London.
Speakers include: Sky News executive editor Jonathan Levy, director of generative AI at the BBC Peter Archer, Reach delivery director Karyn Fleeting and Guardian chief AI officer Caspar Llewellyn Smith.
The morning-long event includes a networking breakfast, lunch and three break-out discussion sessions where publishers can thrash out solutions to our industry’s most pressing revenue challenges in a safe space!
A handful of free delegate places are still available, but only if you work in a leadership position at a news publisher. Apply for your place here.
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😢 The Evening Standard had 346 staff when Alexander Lebedev bought it for £1 in 2009. Sixteen now remain at the newspaper.
A further 23 have transferred to Independent Media which will now produce the Standard website.
Taking a glass-half-full approach, it is impressive that Alexander’s son Evgeny has kept the Standard going for so long. Over his years of ownership the already loss-making title has shed a further £150m.
Today The Standard newspaper continues as a free weekly newsprint magazine, heavy on lifestyle and cultural content but not really covering hard news.
Some 36 staff have left the business during this decoupling of print and web operations, including specialist reporters covering crime, transport and London-level politics.
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✂️ More sad news at the UK’s largest magazine publisher, Bauer Media Group, where up to 30% of publishing staff could be at risk of losing their jobs.
Citing the rise of AI answers and changing tech platform behaviour, Bauer said: “It has become increasingly challenging to operate digital publishing businesses profitably at scale.”
In its German homeland, Bauer is closing digital publishing business Xcel Media with the loss of 160 jobs.
We’ve approached Bauer for comment on reports that 30% of publishing staff are at risk overall, but the company has not confirmed this number.
Bauer sells nearly 100 million magazines a year in the UK with brands including TV Choice, Grazia, Empire, Heat, Closer and Car.
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☀️ In more positive news, we spoke to the media director of UK B2B magazine publisher Datateam which has quietly built up a £14m-a-year business by buying up niche titles that were often at risk of falling into loss.
Paul Ryder explained how his incredibly diverse portfolio, covering everything from casinos to school building, turns a profit without resorting to drastic cost cuts or asset stripping.