ROGERS MEDIA TO CUT 200 JOBS ACROSS TV, RADIO, PUBLISHING DIVISIONS
TOP TWITTER EXECUTIVES TO LEAVE COMPANY, CEO DORSEY TWEETS Four senior Twitter executives are leaving the media company, according to a tweet from CEO Jack Dorsey, announcing the biggest leadership changes since Dorsey returned as chief executive as he struggles to revive the company’s growth. Media head Katie Jacobs Stanton, product head Kevin Weil, the head of the engineer- ing division, Alex Roetter, and HR head Brian “Skip” Schipper will all leave the company, he said. Addressing what he called inaccurate press rumors, Dorsey praised the four execu- tives and said he was sad to announce their departures. Twitter’s stock has fallen nearly 50 percent since Dorsey’s return last year and is now trading below its IPO price amid concern the company has failed to significantly boost its user base despite a quicker pace of product rollouts under Dorsey. Jason Toff, who heads Twitter’s video streaming service, Vine, tweeted that he was also leaving Twitter to join Google to work on virtual reality. Dorsey’s tweets did not mention him. In an earnings conference call in October, Dorsey spoke about “hiring and investing in talent” and the need for “bold rethinking.” Dorsey, who is also CEO of financial services technology company Square, has yet to lay out a detailed plan of what he wants Twitter to do differently. Dorsey plans a retreat with Twitter executives and work out a strategy, a source close to Dorsey said. Dorsey and Team have been hinting at new developments for the site, such as a increased character counts that would exceed the current 140-character limit. Twitter, which has just over 300 million users, had its slowest user growth in 2015 and was eclipsed by photo-sharing app Instagram, owned by Facebook Inc, which surpassed 400 million users last year.
Rogers Media announced that it plans to cut 200 jobs across its television, radio and publish- ing divisions. The company said the layoffs, which represent 4 per cent of its workforce, which began in February are said to “conclude as soon as possible.” Spokeswoman Andrea Goldstein said in an e-mailed statement, “The media industry continues to experience significant pressures from a softening advertising market, fierce competition from global players, and shifting audience consumption habits.”
She said the Toronto-based company identified cost savings in production, operations and procure- ment and “made the difficult decision to reduce headcount.”
The cuts will primarily affect Rogers’ conventional television, radio and publishing operations as well as back-office roles, Ms. Goldstein said. She said “today’s announcement impacts all areas of Rogers Media, except for the Toronto Blue Jays.” Rogers Media owner Rogers Communications Inc., which earns most of its revenues from its com- munications business, including cable television and Internet and wireless services, reported in the third quarter of 2015, that Rogers Media division posted an 8-per-cent increase in sales to $473-million. However, it attributed that to the playoff success of the company-owned Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, which led to higher advertising and revenue growth at Sportsnet, Rogers’ spe- cialty sports station.
Meanwhile, the company said conventional broadcast television and print advertising continued to struggle.
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APRIL 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
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