ProSiebenSat.1 planning 'significantly bigger' job cuts than before - CEO

By Klaus Lauer

BERLIN (Reuters) - German media group ProSiebenSat.1 is preparing to cut significantly more staff than in previous restructurings as part of a strategy to reduce costs and focus more on the entertainment business, said Chief Executive Bert Habets.

"The reduction exercise that we are preparing for is significantly bigger in size than the previous restructurings that we had in our group," Habets told journalists in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening, without giving a concrete figure.

Most recently, in 2019, around 120 full-time positions were cut.

With the strategy, Habets said he wants to make the group sound for the future.

He said the company's two largest investors - Italy's MFE-Mediaforeurope, controlled by the family of the recently deceased Silvio Berlusconi, and the PPF Group of Czech billionaire Renata Kellnerova - supports ProSieben's strategy to put even more emphasis on entertainment.

(Writing by Anastasiia Kozlova; Editing by Miranda Murray)