Things continue to look somewhat shaky over at Bauer, with reports emerging this morning that staff at Cleo have been told to reapply for jobs at Dolly.
The Australian has claimed that, despite Bauer’s denial of the closure of Cleo amid a torrent of speculative reports last week, staff were yesterday informed of the magazine’s fate, and encouraged to reapply for a reduced number of roles at teen mag Dolly.
The editorial staff at Cleo were merged with Dolly’s in November 2013, a move that doesn’t seem to have made much different to the circulation of either title.
A Bauer Media spokesperson had told B&T that there was “completely no truth” in the reports of Cleo’s demise, adding that “digital and print run completely separate from one another” and there was “no announcement being made today” nor was anything expected to be announced regarding closure in the future.
“It is complete speculation at this point and we’ll be making no announcement to staff today or in the future,” he said on Friday.
As of yet, Bauer has not made any new comments to B&T on the speculation.
Bauer Media Group interim chief executive Andreas Schoo allegedly flew back to Australia yesterday, following the spate of upheavals in the publishing company of late. This includes the exit of editor Helen McCabe from Women’s Weekly and conjecture that the title will merge with Woman’s Day.
Schoo, who sits on the German publisher’s board, was recruited to oversee the Australian operation in December after the shock departure of former chief executive David Goodchild.
The Oz understands editor-in-chief of both Cleo and Dolly, Lucy Cousins, is currently discussing her future with Bauer, while the size of the alleged redundancy program remains unclear.
