Jobs to go at The West Australian

The West Australian newspaper has announced staff cuts as parent group Seven West Media progresses its plans to buy The Sunday Times newspaper and Perth Now website from News Corporation.

While the number of redundancies weren't confirmed by the company, sources have speculated up to 80 jobs could be cut.

The West’s chief executive, Chris Wharton, told staff in an email that the business was working on a new organisational structure, which required staffing cuts to assist in building a strong foundation for the business’s future.

“An unstable economic environment and changes to the media industry have presented many new and greater challenges for our organisations,” Mr Wharton said in the email.

“As a result of those challenges, we face increased pressure to transform the way we operate to secure our future.”

Business News reported last month that the competition watchdog was gearing up to review a tie-up between The West and The Sunday Times; that was later confirmed in a statement by Seven West that negotiations between the two parties were underway.

It remains unclear whether Seven West would continue publishing The Sunday Times newspaper, or close the masthead and begin publishing a Sunday edition of The West Australian.