Future is set to close or sell 10 titles and its puzzle portfolio in the first clear-out since the arrival of chief executive Stevie Spring in July.
A significant number of the 38 titles that Future acquired from Highbury in May last year are under review, with approximately 65 staff redundancies across editorial and commercial predicted.
The publisher said it was currently involved in a consultation process with staff and will seek to redeploy “as best we can” internally.
In her first month of the new job, Spring had told Press Gazette that a number of titles were in “intensive care” and that “not all” would survive, suggesting that the publisher needed to return to its specialist publishing roots.
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The company is now looking to close or sell 10 magazines plus all its puzzle titles, to refocus on its core magazine portfolio of technology, gaming and entertainment, and to further drive its online development.
Two technology websites, techtested.co.uk and techdaily.co.uk, are still planned to launch in December.
Robert Price, managing director of Future, said the move would enable the publisher to ensure resources were concentrated in areas in which Future was “strongest”.
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“It’s a refocus of our business, making sure we prioritise in the investments we believe offer the best opportunities for us to develop.
“We want to grow our business; we can’t invest in everything at all times.” Price said it was too early in the process to say if titles could be sold on, but added that it was “natural to expect there would be quite a lot of interest”.
On the sale of the entire puzzles portfolio he said: “It’s not a market we believe we can get into a leading position in, and we think those titles would be better placed with someone else more committed to that sector.”
The titles under review are:
- DJ, Home Entertainment Week, Timecode, Total Mobile and its puzzles portfolio —former Highbury titles, all based in London
- Retro Cars and Total BMW, which were bought from A&S, based in Bat
- Future’s own titles Digital Camera Shopper, Good Woodworking, J-Tuner and Practical Web Design, which are based in Bath.
A proposed women's gambling title has been shelved, which Price said was due to uncertaintly in the gambling market.
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