The Zurich media house is concentrating on its four strongest media titles. It is still unclear how the job cuts in the editorial departments will look.
Tamedia is driving forward digitalisation. The group is significantly reducing its print newspaper business.
Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
There has been a lot of unrest in the Tamedia editorial offices in recent days, with fears of a “cutting hammer” or a “clear-cut”. Now it is clear: The media house, which publishes the “Tages-Anzeiger”, the “Bund” and the “Basler Zeitung”, among others, will be cutting back significantly. The Zurich media house is cutting a total of 290 of 1,400 jobs, closing two of three printing plants and concentrating on its four strongest media titles in the digital sector.
The printing centers in Lausanne and Zurich are affected and are scheduled to close in March 2025 and at the end of 2026 respectively. The Bern site is to be expanded in order to offer the company’s own titles and external customers – including the NZZ – “long-term production security”. At the beginning of the year, the “NZZ am Sonntag” reported that all printing plants were to be closed by 2032. At a press conference, it was now said that there was “no expiration date” for the last remaining printing plant in Bern. The closure of the other two printing plants will result in 200 full-time jobs being cut. There is no way around this, it was said, because the printing plants are on average only operating at just under 50 percent capacity.
New reach strategy
There are also fundamental changes to Tamedia’s media titles. The two offerings “# 12 App” and “Verkehrsmonitor” are being discontinued. In order to increase its reach, the media company will in future rely on its four strongest brands in digital media: “Tages-Anzeiger”, “BZ Berner Zeitung”, “Basler Zeitung” and “24 heures”. The two traditional titles “Bund” and “Tribune de Genève” will retain their own digital presence. Tamedia titles with less reach (including the Zurich and Bern regional newspapers such as “Landbote”, “Zürichsee-Zeitung” and “Thuner Tagblatt”) will be “digitally integrated into the four major platforms using different concepts”.
In concrete terms, this means for readers of the “Zürichsee-Zeitung” or “Thuner Tagblatt” that they will in future find regional content as a menu at www.tagesanzeiger.ch or www.bernerzeitung.ch. However, nothing will change in the print offering. Small titles such as the “Sihltaler” will also remain in print. This is probably due in part to the federal government’s indirect press funding, and in part to the fact that at Tamedia, too, print products still generate more money than digital ones.
The restructuring of the editorial departments is also associated with a reduction in staff. Subject to the outcome of the consultation process required by law, 90 full-time positions will be affected. The dismissals of editorial staff will also be cushioned by social plans or early retirements. It was said at the press conference that exactly which editorial departments will be cut and how the division between French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland will look is still open.
The “Tages-Anzeiger” remains Tamedia’s flagship newspaper.
Gaëtan Bally / Keystone
In parallel with the restructuring of the printing plants and editorial departments, Tamedia is repositioning itself in the area of advertising marketing. From the beginning of 2025, the teams from Goldbach Premium Publishing will also be integrated under the name Tamedia Advertising. The parent company took over the marketing company Goldbach Group in 2018.
The radical restructuring at Tamedia is not surprising. The publishing house had already announced job cuts last autumn. In French-speaking Switzerland, 28 jobs were cut, while in German-speaking Switzerland, 20 jobs were affected. The job cuts were part of a savings package totalling 6 million francs.
«Accelerate digital transformation»
The new strategy was developed under media manager Jessica Peppel-Schulz. The Hamburg native has been CEO of Tamedia since autumn 2023. At the press conference, she said that the Tamedia company now needs to be “repositioned”. The aim of the restructuring is to accelerate the digital transformation in order to increase profitability. To this end, new positions for specialists are to be created. The operating profit margin at Tamedia is currently 2.6 percent. According to internal information, the target is to be 8 to 10 percent.
To implement the new strategy, Tamedia has reorganized its management. In addition to Peppel-Schulz, the executive board consists of the publishing director Simon Bärtschi, Marc Isler, who is now responsible for the Consumer Business and Advertising divisions, Patrick Rexroth (Chief Digital Officer) and Franz Bürgi (Chief Information Officer).
Tamedia is a company of the TX Group. It combines the paid media. The free media around “20 Minuten” form a separate unit. The TX Group, which also includes online marketplaces such as Jobs, Ricardo, Homegate and Scout24, kept its sales stable at 461 million francs in the first half of 2024 thanks to an acquisition. Organically, however, the group’s sales fell by around 6 percent compared to the same period last year. Both advertising revenue at Tamedia and “20 Minuten” and the printing business declined. The TX Group’s operating profit margin was 5.1 percent.
