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22 jobs to go at NZME following Pacific Magazines’ decision to drop local versions of two mags—UPDATED

In July, NZME confirmed that it would not be be renewing its deal with Pacific Magazines to publish New IdeaGirlfriend and That’s Life, meaning that partnership would come to an end on 30 September 2015.

This move led to speculation regarding the continued publication of the local versions of these titles, and Pacific Magazines has now confirmed that the Kiwi iterations of New Idea and Girlfriend will be pulled.

The local iteration of That’s Life will from now be published alongside the Australian editions of New Idea and Girlfriend in this market from October.  

Pacific Magazines chief executive Peter Zavecz said that he was pleased that Pacific Magazines would “continue to play a part in the vibrant New Zealand media industry”. 

That’s Life remains market leader in its category and we’re pleased that it, along with our Australian editions of Girlfriend and New Idea, will maintain their presence in the New Zealand market,” he said in a release.  

“The team at NZME has shown dedication and commitment to the brands, as have the exceptional staff who have worked on the titles directly, and we thank them for having been a great partner.”

When announcing the decision not to renew the partnership with Pacific Magazines, NZME chief operating officer Phil Eustace would not comment on the number of job cuts that would follow.     

“At this point all that has happened is that the 25 people have just been told the license won’t be renewed,” said Eustace at the time. “NZME is looking at [staff]redeployment opportunities both within NZME and at Pacific Magazines.”

Pacific Magazines earlier responded to questions regarding staff cuts saying that it will not have staff in New Zealand in this stage—meaning that the onus of staff redeployment will rest on NZME.  

At the time of this story’s publication, NZME had not yet responded to questions on the number of staff members that had been redeployed to other roles within the organisation.*

*UPDATE: An NZME spokesperson released the following statement: “Seven contractors have had their contracts terminated and 15 staff have been given notice of termination.”

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