Abril, under Gianca, cuts staff and 10 magazines.

247 - Even before the seventh-day mass was held for the death of Roberto Civita, who presided over Grupo Abril, the company began, at 16 PM this Friday the 7th, perhaps the largest and harshest cut in staff, title discontinuation, and expense reduction in its history, reports Portal Imprensa. Under the presidency of Giancarlo Civita, the harsh measures that his father did not want to take began to be implemented in relation to a series of directors of the organization's core departments, among them Claudio Ferreira, responsible for several years for the commercial area of ​​Veja magazine.

Of Abril's 52 magazine titles, at least 10 are expected to be discontinued. The cost-cutting process should continue next week. Rumors suggest a need to reduce annual expenses by R$100 million, which would imply a reduction of approximately 10% in the workforce. This would represent about a thousand layoffs.

Late Friday evening, Grupo Abril announced an administrative restructuring, which includes the dismissal of at least 7 company executives, citing the "pursuit of better results." According to Abril, the new structure represents an evolution of the company's efforts to "maintain its leadership in the Brazilian print media sector and expand its relevance in the world of digital content."

"Rationalization of resources"

"The main focus of the new structure is the reorganization and regrouping of the Business Units that were previously under the Abril Mídia umbrella and which are now under the direct command of Abril SA's CEO, Fábio Colletti Barbosa," the company said in a statement.

"The conception of the new design was based on the fundamental premises of strengthening quality journalism; enhancing brands to consolidate entry into new businesses; balancing the production and distribution of print and digital content; greater autonomy for business units; reducing hierarchical distances to speed up decisions and internal processes, thus increasing connection with communities of readers, internet users, and users; and, finally, maintaining a focus on the rationalization of resources," the statement continues.

Alfredo Ogawa, Director of Editorial Services at Abril Mídia (26 years at Abril), Brenda Fucuta, Superintendent Director of the defunct Segmented Unit I (22 years at the company), and Claudio Ferreira, Commercial Administration Director of the Veja Business Unit, are leaving the company. Also announced are the departures of Daniel Gomes, Director of Strategic Planning and New Business, Kaike Nanne, Director of the Behavior Division, Márcia Neder, Director of the Fashion and Beauty Division (34 years at Abril), and Paula Traldi, Director of Human Resources at the former Abril Mídia.

Below is a news report published by Portal Imprensa:

Editora Abril fires Core Directors; up to ten titles may be closed.

After weeks of rumors and reports predicting mass layoffs at Grupo Abril, the company began a restructuring process on Friday afternoon (June 7th) that involves layoffs and the closure of titles.

According to what IMPRENSA has learned, the cuts began with the core directors who started being called in around 16 pm.

Among those dismissed are Alfredo Ogawa, director of editorial services at Abril Mídia; Brenda Fucuta, managing director of the defunct UN Segmentada I; Claudio Ferreira, commercial director of administration at the Veja Business Unit; Daniel Gomes, director of Strategic Planning and New Businesses; Kaike Nanne, director of the Behavior Division; Márcia Neder, director of the Fashion and Beauty Division; and Paula Traldi, director of Human Resources at the former Abril Mídia.

The announcement of which magazines will be discontinued and the extent to which these cancellations will affect staffing levels is expected next week. There is talk of up to a thousand job cuts.

The press office of Grupo Abril has been contacted and is awaiting an official statement from the company regarding the cuts.

Group restructuring

With these changes, Grupo Abril will have a new structure and the merging of business units that were previously linked to Abril Mídia. There will be five: Veja Business Unit, Exame Business Unit, Abril Segmented Business Unit, Digital Business Unit, and Subscription Business Unit.

UN Veja will be headed by Thais Chedes Soares, who also holds the position of general advertising director; UN Exame will be headed by Claudia Vassallo; and UN Abril Segmentadas will be led by Helena Bagnoli as general manager and Claudia Giudice as superintendent director.

The Digital New Business Unit will be headed by Manoel Lemos and will encompass the operations of Alphabase, iba, Elemidia, E-commerce, and a Technology Investment Fund. The Subscription Business Unit will remain under the leadership of Fernando Costa.

An editorial advisory role was created for the presidency, to be headed by Edla Müller, who will continue the work previously done by Thomas Souto Corrêa. A vice-presidency for operations and management was also created, to be led by Marcelo Bonini.

Positive results

The company's restructuring comes two months after the announcement of net revenue of R$ 2,98 billion in 2012. The company's advertising revenue during the same period was R$ 1,03 billion.

Giancarlo Civita, who at the time the results were released held the position of vice-president of the company's Board of Directors, highlighted that "even in a year of complicated economic conditions, we remained steadfast in our mission to spread culture, education, and entertainment."

The company's digital arm also presented satisfactory numbers. Abril's websites reached 59 million internet users last year. Exame.com experienced 86% growth, reaching 53 million pageviews. In 2012, Abril SA also acquired the minority stake in Elemidia, thus gaining 100% ownership of the business.

Recently, the company made several investments and acquisitions through Abril Educação, which already includes brands such as Ática and Scipione, Anglo, Ser, Maxi, pH and GEO, the Anglo Vestibulares systems, and the pH Course and School.