Chapter 398 Newspaper Layoff Plan

Yang Cheng discussed with Eddie for more than an hour, and finally made a plan for the live broadcast platform, and Eddie had to personally supervise and implement the rest.

After the discussion, Eddie was not in a hurry to continue, so he took this opportunity to talk to Yang Cheng about another matter, "Boss, after six months of development, whether it is Forum Company, "New York Times" or Time Magazine Company, after The initial running-in gradually developed a tacit understanding, and the cooperation between each other complemented each other.

But the biggest problem is still not solved. Although we try our best to absorb excess manpower into the newsroom of Toutiao app, the huge labor cost is still a problem we have to face, and the burden is too great.

With the exception of the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, almost all other regional tabloids are losing money or barely breaking even, including the New York Observer, which we just acquired. "

Yang Cheng dexterously turned the pen in his hand, leaned on the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling, and asked in a deep voice, "So you mean layoffs?"

Eddie took off his round-rimmed glasses, rubbed his eyes a bit hurtfully, and sighed, "Boss, I know this is a cruel decision, but we have to do it, not only us, but the entire American newspaper industry The financial situation is in a continuous decline, and the overall circulation has dropped to the lowest level since 1945.

Even if we don’t care about others, just talk about ourselves. Take the New York Times as an example. After accepting the New York Times, I led the management to conduct a special investigation and research. If we hadn’t intervened, let the New York Times follow the original process It is estimated that this year's advertising revenue will drop by about 10% year-on-year, while the overall revenue will drop by 2%, and the probability of error in the estimate is less than 5%.

If we don't make any changes, the New York Times will become a leech attached to the media of the new era, slowly sucking the blood dry. "

Yang Cheng pressed his temples, his brows were frowning with worry. He knew that Eddie's words were likely to come true, but the impact of large-scale layoffs is not only in terms of external reputation, which may give someone an excuse to attack him. If someone organizes laid-off employees to take to the streets to protest, it will be even more difficult for him to deal with himself.

Not to mention that he is Chinese, even the old man Murdoch has stumbled on similar issues. Never expect your opponents to be soft-hearted to you.

Suddenly, the pen spinning in his hand paused, he sat up straight, his sharp gaze was on Eddie, "How many people are you going to lay off?"

Eddie put on his glasses and looked at Yang Cheng without flinching, "Currently, there are more than 1,500 people in the entire newsroom of The New York Times. My plan is to sacrifice pure copy editing. Less than 10%, the impact will not be too great."

After a pause, he added, "And we won't go too far. While laying off a group of old employees, we will also recruit a group of fresh blood. Now is the Internet age, and we no longer need singleness. talents, but more young generalists who are easy to accept new things are needed for more front-line interview occasions.

In this way, while streamlining the structure of the editorial team, it can also save a certain amount of labor costs and enhance the power of the frontline to discover original news.

Moreover, we can adopt voluntary applications to lay off employees. We will give certain salary compensation to those who voluntarily apply for resignation. This compensation is enough for them to not be short of food and clothing before finding their next job. "

Seeing Eddie's resolute gaze, Yang Cheng couldn't help sighing, "It's still foreigners who are cold-blooded!"

However, Yang Cheng is still very optimistic about Eddie's idea. Reorganize an editorial team that can cover the entire production process of the article, and then an editor outside the team will do the final check before the content is published, instead of writing by a copy editor. , and then pass it to the "backstage" personnel responsible for deploying articles, and finally the cumbersome process of typesetting and publishing after the verification team confirms that it is correct, this is indeed a reasonable plan that conforms to the pace of the times.

After all, this is equivalent to reducing the process of at least three or four editors for most articles before publication to one news editor and one check editor, which reduces manpower and shortens news coverage. From the time of writing to sending out, if there is such an optimized model, why stick to the old path?

Thinking about it this way, it seems that layoffs are not so difficult to accept.

But now that I have a reason to comfort myself, how to eliminate the external disturbance caused by layoffs?

Suddenly, Yang Cheng remembered that Eddie only mentioned the "New York Times" family. The entire New Era Media has nearly a hundred large and small paper publications. As a result, tens of thousands of people left their jobs and became unemployed, not to mention the government and public opinion, he himself knew it well, and no one could afford such a consequence.

He asked with concern, "Eddie, tell me the truth, how many people are you going to lay off? I mean the whole group."

"2,000 people, of course, are not laid off at one time, but in two years and three times." Eddie replied truthfully.

While Yang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't let go of his heart. Although it wasn't as scary as 10,000, 2,000 was not a small amount. He could guarantee that if there was a slight mistake in the plan, it wouldn't be leaked, and it wouldn't take a second to pay for it. God, in a few hours, his phone will be blown up by those city councilors in New York.

After thinking about it, he couldn't fully agree with Eddie's plan, and said, "It's okay to lay off staff, but at present, we can only lay off the editors who really can't help the newspaper. Newsroom, do you understand?"

Yang Cheng emphasized her tone, telling Eddie that this was an order and not a discussion.

Eddie accepted this emotional transmission very well. Although Yang Cheng didn't directly agree, it was better than denying it completely. Eddie thought optimistically.

In fact, if he was in the past, he might not be so cruel to his employees. After all, he himself came from the most brilliant event of paper media. He is proud of the period when he was the "uncrowned king" And proudly, if it is not a last resort, it will be difficult for him to make a decision to lay off large-scale employees, especially many of them are old friends who have worked with him in the same class and have been in love for decades.

However, his ass determines his thinking. Now that he is the CEO of New Era Media, he must put the interests of the company first in everything he considers and does. He must immediately stand up for anything that is harmful to the company and kill the risk. In the cradle, any brotherhood can only make him hesitate for a moment, but it will never change his direction of action.

Maybe even Eddie didn't realize it, but unconsciously, he completed the perfect transformation from a pure media person to a cold-blooded capitalist, and this kind of change is what Yang Cheng wants to see the most, and there is no boss in the world who doesn't like it Yang Cheng is no exception for a professional manager who is capable and dedicated to the company!

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