BCE Inc. will eliminate 1,300 jobs to cut costs as part of a companywide restructuring that also sees the closure of some foreign news bureaus and Canadian radio stations.
(Bloomberg) — BCE Inc. will eliminate 1,300 jobs to cut costs as part of a companywide restructuring that also sees the closure of some foreign news bureaus and Canadian radio stations.
The job reductions are largely in management, which will see a 6% reduction, and there will be 20% fewer executive roles in the company than in 2020, Chief Executive Officer Mirko Bibic said Wednesday in an open letter to employees. The cuts represent about 3% of BCE’s workforce, based on 44,610 employees as of the end of last year.
BCE’s Bell Media division will shut six AM radio stations and sell three others, while its news division will close foreign bureaus in London and Los Angeles and scale back its Washington bureau, according to separate memos sent to employees. The Canadian Press reported earlier Wednesday on the moves.Â
In announcing the cuts, Bibic cited the need to shift from the way telecom and media companies have operated in the past. The CEO noted that BCE expects to lose more than C$250 million ($188 million) in legacy phone revenue yearly and incur at least C$40 million in annual operating losses from news operations. Profitability of its radio business has been halved since the start of the pandemic, he added.
Bloomberg LP and Bell Media have a partnership for the cable channel BNN Bloomberg.
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