South China Morning Post to cut pay of top management and put staff on three weeks unpaid leave as part of cost-cutting measures
- In email and video message to staff, CEO Gary Liu calls past year ‘truly unprecedented time’
- Liu says company acting swiftly to establish new revenue sources while making tough decisions
The South China Morning Post has introduced a package of cost-cutting and revenue-raising measures intended to help it weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the global media industry hard.
Twenty-seven senior executives, including CEO Gary Liu and Editor-in-Chief Tammy Tam, have agreed to have their pay cut immediately, and all staff earning more than HK$20,000 a month have been asked to take three weeks unpaid leave by the end of March next year.
Salaries will be frozen, except for promotions. There has also been a limited number of redundancies.
In an email and video message to staff, Liu said the past year had been a “truly unprecedented time” in Hong Kong, where the Post is based, with eight months of civil unrest followed by the coronavirus outbreak.
He said the company’s revenues had declined significantly as a result and this financial year was expected to be just as difficult.
“Therefore, to stabilise SCMP and secure our operations for the coming year we must act swiftly to establish new revenue sources and make tough but necessary cost reductions,” Liu said.