Emily Tan
Jun 20, 2013

UPDATED: Turner International Asia-Pacific cuts an estimated 240 jobs

HONG KONG - Turner International Asia-Pacific has announced that it will be reducing its Asia-Pacific workforce by about 30 per cent.

Marcopoto: Move is tough but absolutely necessary
Marcopoto: Move is tough but absolutely necessary

This follows an earlier reorganisation of the business that left the company with "north of 800 employees" in the region. A 30 per cent cut in headcount will therefore leave the company with an estimated 560 employees across 11 markets in the region. 

This also follows a similar 30 per cent cut in headcount, or around 250 jobs, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

According to Turner, the 30 per cent reduction in Asia-Pacific comprises open headcount, positions that are vacant and not being reoccupied, redundancies and outsourcing. Turner declined to disclose the breakdown but clarified that CNN's editorial and advertising sales will not be affected.

A statement by the broadcaster said that the move was made after "two months of carefully considering and studying how the company's current structure aligned with future ambitions" and that the review was taken with assistance from PWC. 

Following the restructure, Turner Asia-Pacific will be decentralised from its Hong Kong headquarters and fully focused on the company's three regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia-Pacific and North Asia. 

Although Hong Kong will continue to remain Turner's Asia-Pacific headquarters, the process of decentralisation means that the market was the most significantly impacted. 

In an interview last October, Turner explained that the three regions would be led by Siddharth Jain, MD South Asia, Mumbai; Yew Ming Lau, MD North Asia, Tokyo; and Sunny Saha, MD Southeast Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong. 

“This restructure is a tough but absolutely necessary process to best position Turner Asia Pacific on the path for future growth towards our ambitious long-term goals to double annual revenues by 2020,” said Steve Marcopoto (pictured), president and MD Turner International Asia-Pacific.

Update at 2.20pm: This article has been amended to include responses from Turner to Campaign Asia-Pacific's queries on job redundency breakdown, CNN and the Hong Kong office. 

Source:
Campaign Asia

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