Daily Mail, Sun cut US editorial jobs

Two of Britain's largest newspaper publishers, News UK and DMGT, are implementing significant job cuts in their US digital operations, it emerged on Friday.

According to Sky News, the publishers of the Sun and the Daily Mail had initiated internal restructurings that would result in layoffs affecting a substantial number of employees.

News UK, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, launched the US edition of the Sun online four years ago, employing around 100 people on its American platform.

While Sky’s sources indicated that a considerable proportion of staff would be affected, a representative denied that the layoffs were as high as 80%.

DMGT, the owner of the Daily Mail, introduced Dailymail.com to the US market in 2010.

The company currently employs around 200 people in the United States, down from about 260 seven years ago.

An insider told Sky News that just under 10% of its US workforce would be laid off.

“The US Sun has been an incredibly successful business, driving billions of page views,” a spokesperson for the Sun told Sky News.

“However, the digital landscape has experienced seismic change in the last 12 months, and we need to reset the strategy and resize the team to secure the long-term, sustainable future for the Sun's business in the US.”

Similarly, a spokesperson for Associated Newspapers, the DMGT subsidiary that publishes the Daily Mail, said the company had made a “small number” of job cuts in some areas of its US editorial department.

“This was a difficult but necessary decision, which will enable us to continue to invest in areas where we can grow our audience.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.