Axel Springer is moving to cut roughly 100 jobs at Britain’s Telegraph Media Group as the German publishing giant looks to transform the newspaper into an AI-powered global business. This comes less than four months after acquiring the company for £575 million ($769 million).
Telegraph CEO Carolin Hulshoff Pol and editor-in-chief Chris Evans informed staff of the changes in an internal email, shared with TheWrap. Employees began learning of the cuts on Thursday, with more notified Friday as part of a formal restructuring process, The Guardian first reported.
“Our ambition is to transform The Telegraph from a leading British newspaper into a global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business,” Hulshoff Pol told staff.
The cuts come after Axel Springer pledged to invest in the Telegraph, expand its U.S. operations and build it into the leading center-right news outlet in the English-speaking world. The planned workforce reduction marks one of the publisher’s first major moves since completing the acquisition in June, putting its growth ambitions alongside an immediate push to cut costs.
The overhaul includes plans to combine the newspaper’s comment and analysis teams, along with its features and lifestyle operations. Management also plans to expand into video, audio, events, licensing and commerce while targeting international growth in foreign affairs, defense and business coverage.
Hulshoff Pol said the Telegraph’s prolonged ownership saga had limited its ability to invest and keep pace with changes in the media industry. “To deliver on this ambition, we need to change how we are organised, how decisions are made, where we focus our resources and create efficiencies,” she added.
The Telegraph’s sale to Axel Springer ended three years of uncertainty over the British newspaper’s ownership. The German publisher, led by CEO Mathias Döpfner, also owns Politico, Business Insider and the German newspapers Bild and Welt.
The potential job losses were first reported by The Guardian on Oct. 10, when the outlet said Axel Springer was considering eliminating between 50 and 100 editorial positions. It remains unclear how many of the roughly 100 jobs now reportedly affected are newsroom roles.
“Today marks the start of a formal consultation process,” Hulshoff Pol said. “These are difficult choices that we believe are necessary for the future of the business.”
Axel Springer did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
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