Yellow Media cuts 300 jobs

Yellow Media is cutting about 300 positions in its print division, and shifting more assets towards digital properties.

The cuts represent about 10 per cent of the overall workforce at the Montreal-based publisher of Yellow Pages directories.

The positions will be largely phased out by the end of 2013, with the remainder to be gone by early next year. The cuts will also come from across the country, and the company declined to offer specifics on those on Tuesday.

The company maintains a large presence in Halifax. Fiona Story, a spokesperson for the company, said there are currently 50 employees in that office and it’s unclear how many of those will be affected in the company's ongoing digital transformation. 

Shift to digital

"As the announcement outlines our intention to realign our workforce on a rolling basis through to early 2014, currently, all that we can confirm is this will touch all our offices across Canada, including Halifax," she said in an emailed statement.

Current employees affected by the reorganization will be placed in other functions where possible, the company says.

Yellow Media has been undergoing major changes as it shifts to more online and digital publishing in response to changing conditions. Advertising dollars that once went to print titles are increasing shifting to online, mobile and other digital properties.

In contrast to the systemic contraction on the print side, Yellow Media says it has hired roughly 175 people in various IT and digital media functions this year, and plans to expand even more.