Staff redundancies to cost Next Media HK$30m
Media heavyweight plans to trim publications and rename itself, but its union is crying foul
One of Hong Kong's biggest media companies announced yesterday that it would spend HK$30 million to pay off employees who will be let go as it shuts down one of its titles.
Next Media is folding entertainment magazine and combining three other publications to cut costs.
The company also proposed changing its name to Next Digital "to reflect the strategic move of the group's business focus to align with its business nature and growth objectives," according to a statement it released to the stock exchange.
The announcement did not say how many staff the redundancy payment would be split between.
A Next Media representative said the company believed the proposed name change would "provide a clearer identity and image for the company". The name change is subject to the approval of shareholders and the Companies Registry.
On June 20, the company laid off 70 editorial staff members at the 20-year-old , which will run its final print and online issues on August 7.
The company said in its statement yesterday it would also condense its flagship publication , which currently runs in two separately bound sections and is sold with a supplement known as .
Starting August 13, Next Media will combine two sections into one bound publication, while will cease to be published. Former supplements and fashion publication will be packaged along with .
Next Media Trade Union, which represents workers at the company, had said it was "extremely distressed" by the decision to lay off staff and that colleagues were angry because they found out through news reports.
Confederation of Trade Unions chief executive Mung Siu-tat said HK$30 million in redundancy was "quite a lot" for 70 workers.
"If all 70 were paid HK$15,000 a month and worked for Next Media for 10 years, the redundancy would amount to HK$7 million … It shows that many of those being laid off might have worked for an [even] longer period of time and received relatively higher salary," Mung said.
Earlier this month, Next Media, which also published , also began cutting jobs at with the aim of slashing the publication's workforce by half within two months.
