Reuters cuts 50 editorial staff as revenue declines

Reuters showed further signs of severe financial pressure yesterday when it emerged that editorial jobs would be axed. Journalists' jobs had so far survived the 18-month long cull at the financial information giant.

Fifty editorial staff will be cut from a 2,500-strong workforce in that part of the business, meaning the loss of 2 per cent of the employees of the division. While the figure is not large is relation to losses elsewhere at Reuters, editorial positions had previously been carefully protected. The company's reputation rests on the quality of its journalism. It has about 200 news bureaux across the world. There had been recent speculation that up to 20 per cent of the editorial workforce faced the axe.

The company has axed 2,750 jobs in the last year-and-a-half in reaction to a severe downturn in revenues. The company's key customers in the financial services industries have axed tens of thousands of workers, reducing the requirement for Reuters' services. It has also been losing market share to Bloomberg.

A spokeswoman for the company said the latest cuts had come from the review of the budget for 2002 and the review of products, both of which had now been completed. Last week, Reuters made 150 non-editorial workers in New York redundant. She said she didn't expect more cuts to follow.

"It's 50 [editorial cuts] full stop. We don't plan to make any further editorial cuts," she said.

The job losses have hit Reuters' Japanese services, including the Japanese language desks in New York and London. The Japanese economy continues to be in deep slump. Also online jobs have gone, as Reuters cuts back on the number of special editorial desks it runs to service internet customers from 22 to 14. Online projects in Switzerland, South Africa and Singapore have been dropped, while there have been cuts in the online Latin American service.

On a more positive note, Reuters said that it would create 30 editorial positions next year for a new product called Reuters Knowledge, a mid-priced service aimed at equity researchers and corporate financiers in investment banks.