Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler.
The cuts continue at Reuters. Following a slow but steady flow of layoffs over the last year and the shuttering of its Reuters Next project, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said in a conference call with Thomson Reuters news staff that 5% of editorial employees would be laid off and would be notified by the end of the month.
Adler led the call and is president of the news division. It wasn't immediately clear what portion of the company the 5% of layoffs referred to. Multiple Reuters employees on the call described the cuts as affecting editorial employees.
Reuters employs 2,700 on its editorial staff, meaning that as many as 135 employees could be laid off. Adler said on the call that the company was looking to shift its focus more toward emerging markets and that there would be some new openings that laid-off employees could apply for.
Today's news on the layoffs follows an announcement yesterday by Thomson Reuters CEO, the parent company of Reuters, that Thomson Reuters executive Neil Masterson would take on a new position as "chief transformation officer," a move widely seen among staff as presaging more layoffs.
Thomson Reuters' financial and risk division announced plans in February to layoff 2,500 employees. According to its 2012 annual report, Thomson Reuters has 60,000 employees.