Berlingske (Urban, Dato) cuts jobs
Det Berlingske Officin (Orkla Media ASA), publisher of Danish paid papers Berlingske Tidende, B.T. and Arhus Stiftstidende, and of free dailies Urban and Dato will cut 350 jobs (13% of workforce) over the next two years. The publisher was bought this July by investor Mecom (David Montgomery), a company that also acquired papers in Germany and the Netherlands. Whether the increased competition (three new door-to-door distributed dailies in the last three months) affected the decision is not yet clear although it seems likely.
Source: MSN Money
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:18 am
[...] Dato, the first door-to-door Danish free daily, published its last edition on April 19 – eight months after the launch on August 16, 2006. The paper by Det Berlingske Officin was planned and launched within two weeks in August after Icelandic investor Dagsbrun announced the plans for Nyhedsavisen, a door-to-door Danish free newspapers. Also the other major Danish publisher, JP/Politiken, launched a free door-to-door daily – 24timer – in August. Nyhedsavisen was launched in October 2006. All three free papers aimed at a circulation of 500,000 but Dato had most problems with distribution from the start. Berlingske-owner David Montgomery himself was behind the launch of Dato, although Berlingske already had it’s free daily Urban (officially Dato merged with Urban). The tabloid switch by Berlingske’s flagship Berlingske Tidende some weeks after the Dato launch was also overshadowed by the freebie launches. In December 2006 Berlingske Officin announced that they would cut 350 jobs (see previous post). [...]