The Tronc-owned San Diego Union-Tribune laid off at least six newsroom employees on Tuesday, according to Poynter.
A spokesperson for the company said the Union-Tribune is undergoing “some restructuring across all business functions,” in an e-mail to Poynter. “Some of these changes are to meet the demands of the local business and some of these changes are to align with our larger transformation strategy.”
Citing “sources,” Poynter said four of the employees let go were in charge of social media and homepage curation and two were photographers.
Tronc, which also owns the Los Angeles Times, is looking to keep these types of positions in the L.A. office, the site says. Back in 2015, the Union-Tribune laid off 178 of its 603 employees following Tribune Publishing’s purchase of the paper.
Tronc, Inc., the company formerly known as Tribune, recently reported second-quarter revenues of $405 million, a 1.8 percent drop from the previous year — but it would have been an even steeper 5.9 percent drop were it not for the 2015 acquisition of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“We have a strategic plan in place to transform tronc by combining our platform of premium brands with proprietary technology to accelerate digital growth and create value for our shareholders,” CEO Justin Dearborn said when earnings were released. “Our overall strategy is providing results earlier than forecasted, which gives us the confidence to raise our revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance for the 2016 full year.”
The newly branded tronc, or Tribune Online Content, pools the company’s various media brands and leverages technology with the intent of delivering more personalized, interactive experiences to Tribune’s 60 million monthly users.
The San Diego Union-Tribune did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.