The Daily Telegraph has cut around 100 jobs after its new owner told staff the newspaper will be rebuilt as a "global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business", according to the Guardian.
Staff learned of the redundancies in an all-company briefing and email on Friday morning, with some told as early as Thursday and others receiving calls that morning; one insider described the newsroom atmosphere as "like a morgue".
Chief executive Carolin Hulshoff Pol said the title would lean more heavily on technology, data and artificial intelligence (AI) to "reinvent the reader experience", pointing to new revenue lines including video, audio, puzzles, events, business-to-business services, licensing and commerce, alongside international expansion in foreign affairs, defence and business coverage.
The cuts follow Axel Springer's £575 million acquisition of the Telegraph in June, which ended three years of ownership uncertainty during which rival bidders were blocked or withdrew, and placed the paper alongside the German group's Bild, Die Welt, Politico and Business Insider.
Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner has said he wants to make the Telegraph the "leading centre-right media outlet in the English-speaking world", and the deal was framed around the group's experience in digital journalism, AI and subscriptions.
Pol said the prolonged sale process had left the Telegraph "limited ability to invest, adapt and move at the pace the market demanded", and that the restructuring is meant to bring "clearer accountability, faster decision-making and a simpler, more effective organisation".
A Telegraph Media Group spokesperson said the announcement "marks the start of a formal consultation process".
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