SPH to retrench staff
Today, Yahoo Singapore publishes an article that SPH is expected to retrench about 10 percent of its staff. If the move is official, the retrenchment figure will be higher than the 111 staff it retrenched in 2003.
The sheer number of SPH staff expected to be laid off is frightening. This is because back in 2003, the business condition was difficult due to Iraq war and SARS outbreak. In today’s context, the market condition is not well either but we don’t have any global wars or major pandemic flu taking place.
Thus, even though the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced two days ago that Singapore is not experiencing recession at the moment, my concern is that the state of our economy is even more dreadful than what many people might have thought.
Bad economy and headwinds aside, SPH’s poor performance can be attributed to its management’s failure to transform the media giant into a digital power-house. The bulk of its average daily circulation is still in printed copies and its online subscriptions form a small percentage of its daily circulation. This is a worrying trend as Singaporeans lifestyle has changed and apparently, SPH is unable to keep up with the change.
The reason why readers prefer to go online is because most of us want to be updated with the latest news. Who would want to read yesterday’s news? With printed newspaper, the content will always be one step behind online. In addition, digital newspapers allow advertisers to make use of data analytics to review their advertisement performances.
Inevitably, SPH must [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]
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Hi
Thanks for sharing the retrenchment of SPH staff 10%,is a lot. The economy is really in bad shape.
Your assessment on gold is a little optimistic. Instead of analyzing it from a historical perspective of rising from 2008 to today, I see the pullback from USD 1350 of previous month to USD 1225 today. It does not seems to have any impetus to breakout to USD 1500.
Hi Fred,
Thank you for the comment. Agreed with you that my view on gold may be too optimistic but nevertheless, it is a long term forecast.
Gold price will always be volatile on a monthly basis as a result of market uncertainties. But I am bullish on gold on the long term.
Regards,
Gerald
https://www.sgwealthbuilder.com