TORONTO — Canada's print media landscape has suffered more than its fair share of casualties this year, with buyouts and layoffs a common recurrence in the industry. On Thursday, Postmedia, owner of the North Bay Nugget, announced it plans to reduce its salary expenses by 20 per cent through voluntary staff buyouts, though it acknowledged layoffs are possible if its target isn't met as it announced net losses that nearly doubled in its most recent quarter.
Staff have until Nov. 8 to apply for the buyouts, the company said, with reductions coming from all levels and operations.
The newspaper chain announced the cost-cutting measure as it reported a fourth-quarter loss of $99.4 million or 35 cents per diluted share. That's up from a loss of $54.1 million or 19 cents per diluted share for the same period a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter ended Aug. 31 totalled $198.7 million, down from $230.2 million. Postmedia attributed most of the revenue loss to a 21.3 per cent drop in print advertising and eight per cent fall in print circulation.
For its full financial year, Postmedia said it lost $352.5 million or $1.25 per share on $877.2 million in revenue. In the previous year, it lost $263.4 million or $1.98 per diluted share on $750.3 million in revenue.
The newspaper industry has struggled with declining ad revenue for years, but 2016 has been particularly brutal for the business.
In January, Postmedia cut 90 jobs and merged newsrooms in four cities, but maintained separate newspapers in each location following its acquisition of Sun Media's English-language newspapers and digital properties last year.
It had been grappling with how to tackle its $648-million debt and those layoffs were part of cost-cutting measures.
The company aimed to reduce its annual operating expenses by $80 million. Postmedia said Thursday it is just $5 million shy of reaching that goal, which it expects to do by the end of the first quarter of its 2017 financial year.
In July, it announced a debt-restructuring plan that would see its total amount owed slashed by nearly half. The Ontario Superior Court as well as the company's shareholders and debt holders approved the plan last month.
CEO Paul Godfrey told analysts and the media when the plan was announced that the company still had work to do to operate in a challenging industry — a sentiment he echoed Thursday.
"We do see some hopeful signs in our newer revenue initiatives," Godfrey said in a statement. "We will continue to transform our business to address the industry disruption."
This year, the company struck deals with two financial technology companies, Agility Forex Ltd. and Mogo Finance Technology Inc., for revenue in exchange for ad space.
Here's a look at some of the other blows sustained by the print media sector in 2016:
Jan. 19: Postmedia announces it will cut approximately 90 jobs and merge newsrooms in four cities to slash costs amid mounting revenue losses. The company owns two newspapers each in Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.Postmedia announces it will cut approximately 90 jobs and merge newsrooms in four cities to slash costs amid mounting revenue losses. The company owns two newspapers each in Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
Aug. 9: Torstar, the company that owns the Toronto Star, says it's laying off more than 50 people, mostly from its newsroom and tablet edition, citing continuing declines in print advertising revenue. Twenty-two employees, including 19 full-time workers in the Toronto Star newsroom, are among those to be let go.
Sept. 8: The Globe and Mail offers voluntary buyouts to 40 of its approximately 650 staff. Publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley says the buyouts will be done by the end of November.
Sept. 30: Rogers Media triggers a sweeping overhaul of its magazines — with Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business becoming online-only publications in January — in response to declines in subscribers and print advertising revenue. Other changes to take effect next year will see Maclean's, Chatelaine and Today's Parent cut the number of print editions that they publish. Rogers says it is also looking to sell all of its business-to-business magazines as well as its French publications. The media giant says some jobs will be lost, though it couldn't say how many.
