MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
January 24 – January 31, 2008 Edition
Meredith Corp.
Cuts Staff, Forms
Retail Division
DES MOINES, IOWA/1/21/08–Meredith Corp, based in Des Moines, Iowa, last week laid off 20 employees and has reassigned another 15 employees. The company, which publishes special interest books along with Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal and Family Circle magazines, has restructured in the face of lower-tan-expected sales, and has created a new division called Meredith Retail. The Retail division will combine magazine and book divisions into one, together with its newsstand businesses. Most of the layoffs came in the book division, according to the Des Moines Register.
Meredith Retail plans to concentrate its book publishing on cooking, crafting, remodeling and gardening.
Meredith publishes 25 subscription magazines and more than 200 special interest publications under about 80 titles. The book publishing unit has more than 400 books in print. The company also owns 13 television stations and 40 or more web sites.
Most of the layoffs were in editorial, graphics, and sales departments. Doug Guendel, vice president and general manager of Meredith Books will remain with the company, but no word was given on whether his duties will change.
