Turner International to cut 30% staff in Asia-Pacific

Turner International Asia Pacific Ltd, a division of Time Warner Inc.’s Turner Broadcasting System Inc., said on 20 June 2013 it’s reducing staff by 30% in the region, without specifying the total number of jobs being lost. However, according to its managing director Steve Marcopoto, India operations will be least affected.

In India, Turner operates children’s channels Cartoon Network and Pogo, besides English film channels WB and HBO. It has a branding tie-up with the CNN-IBN news channel run by IBN18 Network. The company also operates Zee Turner Ltd, a channel distribution company with the Zee group.

After Hong Kong, India accounts for the company’s second-largest operations in the region.

“India is our fastest growing market in the region,” Marcopoto said, adding that the country won’t be much affected by the restructuring. The restructuring exercise, undertaken in collaboration with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, should not be viewed as a cost-cutting measure, he said.

“That’s conventional observation,” he said. “The fact is that it is in fundamental pursuit of growth.”

The restructuring will help double the company’s revenue in the region by decentralizing operations. “Asia isn’t a single market. We very much recognize that it is many dynamic markets. We will deploy manpower according to requirements to fund growth” he said.

However, he added that while India may be the fastest growing market for the company, Japan is the most profitable in the region. “That is because it is a mature economy. India’s distribution is under-yielding in revenue, but that should change with digitization,” he said.

The press statement on the restructuring said that the approximately 30% reduction in total positions across the Asia-Pacific business includes open headcount, or positions that are vacant, redundancies and outsourcing. “The new, leaner central structure means more efficiency, less bureaucracy and greater empowerment for local management in the company’s three regions of South Asia, South East Asia Pacific and North Asia,” it said.

“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 Marcopoto.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/2636-turner-international-to-cut-30-staff-in-asia-pacific.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/2636-turner-international-to-cut-30-staff-in-asia-pacific.html