A large Iowa-based publishing company is taking another hit from the nation’s recession. Meredith Corporation is cutting 250 jobs nationwide, 100 of them at its Des Moines headquarters. Meredith spokesman Art Slusark blames the downturn in advertising revenue in both publishing and broadcasting.
Slusark says, "Advertising revenues across our businesses were down about 15-percent in our first fiscal quarter, which would be the third calendar of the year, and they weakened further in the last quarter of the calendar year." Meredith has more than 3,000 employees nationwide and publishes about a dozen magazines, including: Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Successful Farming and the Ladies’ Home Journal.
Among the cuts, he says Meredith will shut down its "Country Home" magazine with the March 2009 issue and let go of its 40-member editorial staff. "The other layoffs are taking place across the company," Slusark says. "It’s a total reduction in force of about 7% company-wide and there really aren’t any areas that are singled out." He does not expect things to improve in 2009.
Meredith laid off 60 people and left 60 other jobs open last summer, many of them in the book division.