Axel Springer to up earnings at German newspapers through revenue growth, job cuts

BERLIN (Reuters) - Axel Springer is aiming to improve earnings at its Bild and Welt newspapers by 100 million euros ($106.08 million) over the next three years through revenue increases and cost savings, including job cuts, the German media group said on Tuesday.

The company did not give a specific figure for how many jobs would be affected by the reorganization. It said the cuts would be primarily aimed at bypassing redundancies created through the use of technology and that it was trying to avoid involuntary terminations.

"Journalistic production is becoming a by-product, more and more technically supported and automated," Chief Executive Mathias Doepfner said in a statement.

"This means a reorganization of newsrooms and shifting of staff and costs. Understanding this change is essential to a publishing house's future viability," he said.

Doepfner justified the target by saying that Bild and Welt would be in a "dangerous predicament" in a few years if nothing were done.

Axel Springer has a presence in over 40 countries and owns German newspapers Bild and Welt as well as English-language news website Politico, which it acquired in October 2021.

The company is headquartered in Berlin and employs more than 16,000 people worldwide.

($1 = 0.9427 euros)

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Friederike Heine)