An Iowa-based publishing giant is cutting dozens of jobs. A spokesman for Meredith Corporation says the company has added 350 employees in the past year through several acquisitions, including the purchase of the website “AllRecipes.com”, but Art Slusark says positions are being cut at the company’s headquarters in Des Moines and in other offices across the country.
“We had a reduction in force of approximately 80 employees yesterday, and of that, 25 were here in Des Moines,” Slusark says. “You have to keep in mind, we have about 3,400 employees nationwide.” The company produces a variety of magazines, including Better Homes & Gardens, Midwest Living and Successful Farming.
He says no titles are being eliminated with this move. “The reductions were pretty broad-based across a number of different areas,” Slusark says. “There wasn’t one area in particular that was impacted.” Meredith is releasing its third quarter financial report today, showing revenues rose to $346-million for the quarter, compared to $339-million at this time a year ago.
The company also owns several TV stations, in cities including Kansas City, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Atlanta. “For the 10th consecutive quarter, we’ve experienced growth in advertising in our local television group, which we think is very important,” Slusark says.
“You look at our national media group, we did increase revenues by 2% and a lot of that was thanks to the new acquisitions that we’ve made.” He says the company is working to expand its presence in several areas, including in digital, mobile, video and social media.