Asia untouched by Fairfax job slashes

Fairfax Business Media in Asia will remain untouched by the job cuts and the restructuring happening in its Australian operations, said its Asia regional manager Mark Hobson."The news and restructuring that is happening at Fairfax is confined to the Australian operations and has no effect on Fairfax Business Media in Singapore. As for the business in Australia I can't add any comments other than what has already been announced," Hobson told Marketing.Fairfax Media in Asia includes its operations in Singapore and Malaysia.As of yesterday, the Australia based multimedia company announced a slashing of 1,900 jobs over the next three years as part of a major restructure, which is close to a fifth of its 10,000 employees.Other changes from the company include having The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age broadsheet newspapers will turned into tabloids and their websites to have pay walls by the early part of next year, according to the Associated Press. Australia's largest newspaper publisher after News Corp, the publishing giant also announced it will close two printing facilities in Sydney and Melbourne by June 2014, with a spokesperson saying that both sites' printing presses have ‘significant surplus capacity which is no longer required'."Readers' behaviours have changed and will not change back," chief executive Greg Hywood said in a statement. "As a result, we are taking decisive actions to fundamentally change the way we do business," he said.The measures will have a one-off cost of about A$248 million (SG$318 million), and should result in annual savings of A$235 million from June 2014. Critics have labeled the move as another reflection of the decline of the newspaper business.Fairfax owns more than 300 newspapers, 50 websites and 15 radio stations in Australia and New Zealand and Australia's top dating site, RSVP.com.au.