Mark Hollinshead, managing director of the group's national titles, e-mailed staff last Thursday (18 June) asking people to take up the redundancy offer.
The e-mail, seen by Media Week, told staff the cost-cutting drive was being carried out to help offset the company's downturn in revenue and protect profits.
Staff, including senior management, at the group's London-based national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People titles will be able to take up the redundancy offer until the end of this year. The offer does not apply to MGN's Scottish titles, such as the Daily Record, or to staff in its regional newspaper division.
The move follows the group's announcement in May that ad revenue across Trinity Mirror's nationals division had plunged nearly 17% year on year in the 17 weeks to 26 April.
Mirror Group Newspapers confirmed the voluntary redundancy scheme, but did not disclose exact numbers. The group is thought to be looking at a significant reduction in headcount to help meet its target of delivering £25m in cost savings in 2009.
The group made 1,200 people redundant in 2008 and now employs about 10,000 people. In 2008, operating profit across the nationals division, including Scottish and English titles, fell from £94.3m to £88.9m. Revenue fell from £487.6m to £475.7m during the period.
The move is the latest cost- cutting measure by the national and regional publisher to offset costs, including the closure of a number of regional titles. It closed 27 news- papers in 2008, including titles in North Wales and Lancashire, and sold off another four.
Separately, MGN is planning to launch a football website, to be called mirrorfootball.com, in August. The site will offer users the chance to search through the group's 100-year archive of footballing images and match reports, including seminal images, such as England captain Bobby Moore lifting the World Cup in 1966. Users will be able to search by player, team and year.
The site will operate separately to the Daily Mirror's main www.mirror.co.uk site.
It is unclear if mirrorfootball.com will be a paid-for site, but commercial opportunities will be offered in terms of ad slots and sponsorship. It is likely the site will also link up commercially with professional football clubs.
.jpg)
.jpg)