Yet more redundancies are expected at Abu Dhabi Media in the coming months as a strategic review of its operations continues apace.
A review of its broadcast division resulted in job losses last week, with an unknown number of staff being made redundant, although it is believed to be less than 100 people.
The latest batch of redundancies is the second round of large-scale lay-offs seen at Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) this year, after it was announced in March that almost 20 per cent of the company’s staff were asked to leave in an effort to make it more sustainable in the longer term.
The strategic review is being held in an effort to improve efficiency, with more redundancies expected across the group’s other divisions. “The strategic review of other divisions in the company will continue and the process is expected to lead to similar changes in these divisions in the coming months,” said Frank Mooty, ADM’s acting CEO. Malcolm Wall, formerly of Virgin Media, was appointed CEO in June and is due to take over in September.
In an unrelated development, Gavin Dickinson has resigned his post as executive director, publishing after almost three years in the role. Responsible for the company’s portfolio of publishing brands, which include The National and Al Ittihad, his duties will be overseen on a temporary basis by Martin Newland, ADM’s editorial director. The reason for Dickinson’s departure in unknown. As a further interim measure, the sales team at the company’s publishing division will report to Raja Halabi, executive director (commercial).
Abu Dhabi Media was established in 2007, with its flagship title being The National. It also runs TV station Abu Dhabi Al Oula and film unit Imagenation Abu Dhabi.
The actual number of laid-off personnel from the broadcast division in Abu Dhabi Media, is 118 people, other departments in the company are expecting to be affected by this second wave of what is believed to be an arbitrary dismissal act. In fact, ADM formerly Abu Dhabi Media Company, became a national (if not a regional) champion of such a kind of staff cuts in the last years…
Habitually, a company which aims sustainability has to review its workforce’s quality before operating nothing but an irrational and blind reduction of the personnel.