“Nip and tuck” layoffs at Reuters due to restructuring

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

A small restructuring through the Reuters news operation occurred on Tuesday, with at least four business journalists losing their jobs in the United States.

Four editors in New York at Reuters main office in Times Square lost their jobs, as well as a banking reporter in a bureau.

“It’s not bloodletting,” said one of the journalists who lost their job but didn’t want to be identified because he’s got a job interview on Wednesday. “It’s more like a nip and tuck.”

One of the other journalists cut said they had their job until the end of the year.

Other editorial staffers around the world also lost their jobs on Wednesday, said one of the journalists who lost their job, but the number could not be confirmed. E-mails to two different Reuters public relations representatives were not returned.

Under new editor in chief Stephen Adler, Reuters has been hiring a number of high-profile journalists in the past few months. However, a new CEO for Thomson Reuters, its parent company, is taking over at the end of the year, and there is concern that he will be more judicious on spending on journalists.

Adler denied that the editorial hiring would slow in an interview with Marketwatch.com media columnist Jon Friedman last week.

“A new management team has been hiring a lot of people,” said one of the journalists cut. “And we’re coming up to the end of the quarter, so each business unit is making cuts to help with the margins.”