About 300 employees are set to lose their jobs as Kenya’s oldest media house, Standard Group, tries to reorganise operations amidst shrinking revenues and an evolving technological landscape.
- •Standard Group is also gearing up to introduce a new management team that will be tasked to revive the media station’s fortunes; the first action being solving the redundancy problem and restructuring the business to salvage costs.
- •The company has said that it will compensate its affected employees by paying up the pending salaries it has accrued till the day of exit, as well as a severance package of 15 days for every completed year of service.
- •The retrenched employees will also get their unremunerated leave days paid and pension dues sorted out as per their employment contract.
“We remain confident that the reorganization of the business through restructuring will place us in good stead by adopting a leaner, more efficient structure for better performance and growth,” Standard Group said in a statement.
Standard Group, which owns a number of outlets such as The Standard Newspaper, KTN, and Spice FM, has been on the spotlight over the last few months after its staff complained of salary delays. Earlier this month, the Kenya Union of Journalists issued a statement warning the company after it had allegedly intimidated radio department staff on strike over unpaid wages and Sacco dues.
The company’s change in management reflects the intrigues in the country’s traditional media space as advertising revenues shrink and they struggle to evolve their business models. After the CEO, Orlando Lyomu, stepped down – the Managing Director of the Broadcast division Joe Munene took over as acting CEO.
Marion Gathoga-Mwangi was appointed to take over as CEO on 15th this month, but her introduction was pushed to early August. There are also rumours of further changes in the top levels of the company from early August as the media conglomerate tries to change its fortunes yet again.
Standard Group intends to shift its focus from traditional trends that defined its operations for more than a century, and align itself with digital modes that have usurped the advertisement market. The company may also reduce its burn rate by slashing down its operations in the print department.
“We consider the reorganization of our business as a necessary step to ensure business stability and continuity in the coming months as the group strives to sustain and enhance the quality of journalism it offers,” said the company.
The listed company’s share price closed at KSh 6.6 on Tuesday, a depreciation of 14.7% year to date performance. It registered a loss after tax of KSh 1.26bn in its last financial year and is now seeking to raise KSh 1.5bn through a rights issue.
