LONDON, United Kingdom — BoF has learned that The Telegraph is laying off 55 people from the newspaper’s staff, as part of a round of cuts being made today and tomorrow. The redundancies will heavily impact the publication’s fashion department and include the newspaper’s deputy fashion editor Luke Leitch, fashion director of Stella magazine Charlie Harrington and Frankie Graddon, junior fashion editor of Stella magazine.
The Telegraph was not available to comment.
The news follows the announcement last week that Condé Nast has eliminated more than 50 staffers, mostly from the company’s media group, reducing its size by at least 25 percent. More layoffs at Condé Nast are expected to follow, as rumours of ongoing budget cuts, believed to be between 10 and 30 percent across the board, continue to circulate.
The news of layoffs at The Telegraph is not the first major restructuring of editorial staff at the company, which in June created 40 new editorial jobs amidst the departure of around a dozen staff members, mainly journalists in senior roles. In March 2013, the newspaper announced 80 redundancies across its editorial staff, alongside the creation of 50 new jobs.
Last Tuesday, Jason Seiken, chief content officer and editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Media Group wrote to the newspaper’s journalists, warning them of impending staff reductions with the following message: "As I outlined in a letter to staff earlier this month, we must continue to meet the demands of resourcing our digital-first newsroom whilst also responding to the ongoing challenges within our industry. As a result, there will inevitably be an impact on staff numbers in several editorial areas.”
The news comes amidst tough economic times for legacy news organisations, which face declining print sales as well as increasing difficulty monetizing content through traditional advertising.
Editor’s Note: This article was revised on 11 November, 2014. An earlier version of this article misstated that Daniela Agnelli, fashion director of the Telegraph Magazine, was amongst those being laid off. She is not. She will continue her relationship with The Telegraph as editor-at-large for fashion supplements across the Telegraph Media Group.
