Down East publisher makes cuts
Down East Enterprises Inc. -- the Rockport-based owner of Down East magazine and Down East books, among other holdings -- laid off six staff members today and reduced hours and duties for about a dozen more, Down East President and CEO Bob Fernald told Mainebiz this afternoon.
The layoffs, which Fernald said happened "all over the building" and included two editorial staffers, were prompted by decreasing real estate advertising revenue and lost income as a result of the January sale of Performance Media LLC, a Massachusetts-based publisher of an auto racing magazine. "If it was just one of these things, we would be having a different conversation," said Fernald. "But it's the two of them together, along with the lack of any end to this recession, that is forcing us to batten down the hatches."
Down East Enterprises publishes Shooting Sportsman and Fly Rod & Reel magazines, as well as Down East, and operates websites including downeast.com, mainehousing.com and mainevows.com. The company employed 52 people before today's layoffs.
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