Tamedia makes massive job cuts and closes printing plants
Tamedia is cutting 290 full-time positions. Of these, 90 are in editorial departments and 200 are in printing operations. As a result, the printing centers in Bussigny, VD, and Zurich will be closed. Professional associations reacted with outrage and demanded that the company revise its strategy.
CEO Jessica Peppel-Schulz did not yet reveal to the media in Zurich on Tuesday how many jobs will be cut at which editorial offices. Tamedia is first waiting for the consultation process. This is due to start in the second half of September.
According to the plan, Tamedia will have 1200 employees in the future. According to the half-year report, this amounts to 1225 full-time positions. Around 120 employees from the advertising market are to join Tamedia from Goldbach because Tamedia wants to organize advertising marketing internally from the beginning of 2025. Goldbach supports this development. For Christoph Marty, the fact that marketing is moving closer to the product is understandable and correct: "For Goldbach, this means 'back to the roots' in the areas of TV, radio and digital. OOH has been added as a new, important pillar. The collaboration with Tamedia and also with 20 Minuten will be continued where it makes sense. This sharpens our focus and also makes us more independent," the Goldbach CEO told m&k.
In the following video interview, Marc Isler, Chief Revenue Officer and Member of the Management Board at Tamedia, talks about the company's strategic decision to take the sale of advertising back into its own hands and found Tamedia Advertising.
Still printed newspapers
While Tamedia plans to close the printing plants in Bussigny and Zurich in 2025 and 2026 respectively, there is "no time horizon" for Bern, as Peppel-Schulz said. External titles will also be printed there. All Tamedia titles will also continue to be published as printed newspapers. The printing plants are currently operating at between 30 and over 50 percent capacity, it was reported on Tuesday.
In future, Tamedia will focus on the four "strongest brands" online. These are Tages-Anzeiger, Bernese Newspaper, Basel Newspaper and 24 Heures. It remains to be seen how exactly Confederation and Tribune de Genève will continue, as Simon Bärtschi, Head of Journalism, said. The other titles such as Country Messenger, Zurichsee-Zeitung or Thuner Tagblatt will no longer have their own online presence.
Western Switzerland reacts strongly
There were strong reactions to the redundancy plans from French-speaking Switzerland on Tuesday. The editorial offices sent a message in the afternoon describing the plans as "intolerable". The "radical plan" must be reconsidered. The editorial team of Tribune de Genève even accuses Tamedia in a separate press release of wanting to kill the newspaper.
The reactions of the cantonal governments of Zurich and Vaud differ. When asked by Keystone-SDA, the Zurich Department of Economic Affairs only stated that it regretted any job cuts in the canton.
The Vaud State Council, on the other hand, wants to seek talks with those responsible in view of the print shop closure. The State Council views the recurring rounds of cost-cutting at Tamedia in recent years with great concern. According to a press release, the Intergovernmental Conference of Western Switzerland is also concerned about the "further weakening of the media landscape".
"Self-destructive plans"
For the Impressum professional association, the redundancy plans are "self-destructive". In a press release, the Syndicom trade union spoke of a downsizing policy with no consideration for employees. Both organizations were particularly bothered by the fact that the listed parent company TX Group paid out dividends despite various waves of redundancies.
The media union SSM is deeply concerned and considers the cuts in the printing sector to be particularly serious. Western Switzerland is also likely to be disproportionately affected due to the large loss of advertising, writes the SSM. Tamedia is being asked to "take social and regional obligations seriously".
The Swiss Media Publishers Association responded to the plans for cuts by calling for an increase in indirect press subsidies. It is calling on the National Council to increase existing press subsidies to CHF 45 million in the fall session.
Positive result
The TX Group published its half-year figures this morning. It reported a profit of CHF 24.5 million, compared to CHF 13.7 million in the same period of the previous year. Turnover amounted to CHF 461 million. Advertising revenues at Tamedia and 20 Minuten and the printing business were down.
The online marketplaces combined in the Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG) were extremely profitable and increased their margins once again. The margin at 20 Minuten improved, albeit at a low level. Goldbach managed to return to a positive adjusted operating result. (SDA/swi/bh)
