Euronews announces almost 200 layoffs and redeployment of journalist teams

The information chain Euronews plans to eliminate almost 200 jobs at its headquarters, located in Lyon (southeast of France), and open offices in various European capitals, concurring sources reported on Thursday.

The unions had been waiting for months for the details of the strategic plan announced by management to give new impetus to the channel, after registering some 160 million euros (169.6 million dollars) in losses in ten years.

“The management presented a plan […] which includes 198 layoffs” by October 2024 in Lyon, of the nearly 500 total employees, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) said in a statement.

In an internal email to which AFP had access, the director general, Guillaume Dubois, confirmed the cut plan.

“The project foresees the redeployment of the Euronews newsroom in Europe”, accurate.

According to the SNJ, the management wants, from October 2023, to have “a central newsroom in Brussels” and open “six offices in Rome, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, London within six months.”

in lyons “only the French, Russian and Farsi language teams will remain”, explained the union.

In a statement published on Thursday night at the end of the Company Social Committee, the management specified that the project was intended to make Brussels “the neuralgic heart of the device” creating more than 100 jobs, including 70 on-site journalists.

Another 50 posts for journalists will also be created in six major European capitals.

Euronews headquarters will remain in Lyon “with more than 140 employees”, add the address.

But according to the SNJ, the employees kept in Lyon will probably have to leave “in the last quarter of 2024″ the current emblematic building of 10,000m², which will be put up for sale.

“The dismantling of our chain in Lyon is now almost total”, criticized the SNJ.

For its part, management stresses that this plan foresees “a significant increase” of revenue thanks to “the implementation of new editorial offers -particularly on digital- and on a control of operating costs”, for a return to financial equilibrium “by 2025”.

euronewscreated in 1993 by some twenty European chains, has been controlled since last July by the investment fund Alpac Capital, based in Portugal, which owns 88% of the shares.

The channel broadcasts continuous information in 15 languages ​​and has a staff of 400 journalists of 30 nationalities. 247 News Agency