The Australian media company Southern Cross has announced major job losses, confirming the cuts to the market through the ASX. The company owns well known radio brands such as Triple M, as well as the Channel 7 television network. According to the announcement, up to 300 full-time jobs are set to go, a significant reduction for a business of its size. The decision adds Southern Cross to the list of media companies reshaping their operations in a difficult advertising environment.
The scale of the cuts is considerable when measured against the size of the workforce. The up to 300 full-time roles represent about 5 to 8 percent of the company's overall staff. Southern Cross says it is hoping to finalise these job losses by the end of June, which is only a few weeks away. That timeline, however, assumes the process gets past the unions, leaving some uncertainty over how quickly the changes can be completed.
The announcement comes only a few months after Southern Cross acquired Seven West Holdings, the part of the business that includes Channel 7. That deal expanded the company's footprint in television at a time when the sector is under pressure. The integration of the television assets now sits alongside the cost cutting, as the company looks to manage a larger operation against a weaker revenue backdrop. The timing underlines how quickly the financial picture has shifted since the acquisition.
At the heart of the decision is a struggle with falling advertising revenue, especially across the television network. Southern Cross told the market that this financial year it has downgraded its revenue, moving the figure from 1.9 billion dollars to 1.8 billion dollars. That downgrade reflects the broader squeeze on advertising spending that has hit traditional media. For the company, the weaker outlook has made deeper cost cutting harder to avoid.
The company has indicated where most of the cuts will land within its operations. According to Southern Cross, the majority of the roles going are back house positions, accounting for 250 to 300 full-time workers. Focusing the reductions on these areas is presented as a way to protect the core output of the business while still lowering costs. Even so, the loss of several hundred jobs represents a substantial change for the staff affected.
The financial logic behind the move was also set out in the announcement. Southern Cross says it will cost the company about 200 million dollars to carry out the job cuts. Against that, the company expects the redundancies to save it around 150 million dollars overall. The figures show a large upfront expense in exchange for ongoing savings, a trade off the company is betting will strengthen its position over time.
The chief executive, Rohan Lund, emailed staff about the redundancies, framing them as a difficult but necessary step. In the message, which has been seen, he said the company has to make tough choices and say goodbye to staff. He described the company as navigating a demanding market with a tightening advertising sector, and noted global macroeconomic pressures that are impacting all businesses. The email signalled that the cuts are tied to wider conditions rather than to the company alone.