The COVID lockdown and slump in the Advertising market is continuing to devastate the Australian media industry with Seven the latest network to make significant staff cuts.
Max Mason at the Australian Financial Review reports as many as 50 staff have been made redundant within Seven West Media’s sales division this week. Seven has not commented on the cuts.
This latest round of redundancies comes after Seven introduced a scheme of wage cuts and reduced work hours last month.
According to Mumbrella, employees earning between $80,000 and $200,000 per annum were requested to work a four-day week with a commensurate 20% reduction in salary. Those earning above $200,000, were requested to take the pay cut, but keep their hours the same.
Seven was already under significant financial pressure before COVID-19, and the dramatic downturn in the advertising market due to lockdown has made things far worse, with the network seeking to achieve an additional $20 Million in cost saving.
The network recently completed the sale of its Pacific Magazine business to Bauer Media and is continuing to look at options regarding offloading its Seven Studios division and investments in Airtasker, SocietyOne and TX Australia.
