Staff at the Melbourne headquarters of iconic travel guide Lonely Planet are facing job cuts and redeployments, affecting all editorial roles, as part of a massive global overhaul of the company's operations four months after it was sold by BBC Worldwide.
The Australian redundancies include editors, writers and cartographers, and some casual staff have also reportedly lost their jobs, according to reports from News Ltd. Redundancies and restructuring are also expected at offices in London, Nashville and Oakland.
Lonely Planet was founded in Melbourne in 1972 by Maureen and Tony Wheeler, and grew to be the go-to guidebook for travellers the world over. The company has printed more than 120m books in 11 languages since starting out as a single shoestring guide to Asia.
Staff were told on Thursday morning at the Footscray offices that the company, owned by Nashville-based NC2 Media, would be undergoing "changes" amid media reports of more than 100 redundancies. Fairfax reported that the mood in the office was "gloomy", and many staff left the building in tears.
A senior Lonely Planet executive, in an email also announcing her own departure, wrote to the company's global staff: "Today has been an incredibly tough and sad day in LP and I'm very sorry to be saying goodbye to so many dear friends and colleagues."
An unnamed Melbourne staffer told News Ltd that NC2 had "made it clear that they were no longer in the business of content creation".
An email to staff from NC2 chief operating officer Daniel Houghton said that while Lonely Planet's travel guidebooks would continue to be of "significant importance" to the business, their focus would now be on digital efforts and building a new content model.
The email outlined which departments were facing the axe, including making all editor's and managing editor's roles redundant. Publishing and commissioning editor's roles "are proposed to be made redundant" and will be replaced by "destination editors" based in London who will commission all written work.
"As mentioned earlier, authors are a critical part of the fabric of Lonely Planet, but we will take advantage of other content sources, such as community and social media, to build a content model that supports our entire business," wrote Houghton.
Comments apparently left on news articles by employees allege many staff found out about the job cuts from the media before they heard from management.
In a statement publicly released by NC2 on Thursday, the company said: "Unfortunately, as a result of these changes, a number of positions at our offices around the world have the potential to be affected and we are in consultation with individuals whose roles may be impacted.
"These changes will enable Lonely Planet to be well positioned for ongoing success and investing in the future in line with our 40-year heritage."
It was reported some Melbourne digital roles had shifted to Nashville, but Houghton denied the claim to Skift.
"We are not relocating our digital roles to Nashville," Houghton said. "We have digital resources around the world at LP and will continue to maintain that global presence."
The company has been a global powerhouse in the travel guide industry, but during recent years has faced numerous challenges and controversies.
A furore erupted in 2008 when a former travel writer published a book claiming he had written guides for Lonely Planet without visiting the countries, and sold drugs because the pay was not enough to support himself.
The company has also taken a financial hit over the years. Lonely Planet has traditionally held around 60% of the travel guide market in Australia, but sales dropped 14% between 2010 and 2011, and then another 21% between 2011 and 2012, according to Nielsen Bookscan's "world travel guide markets" report.
In 2007 the Wheeler's sold 75% of the company to BBC Worldwide and the remainder four years later.
However in March this year BBC Worldwide sold Lonely Planet to NC2 Media - majority-owned by US billionaire Brad Kelly – at a reported loss of over $100m.
At the time of the sale, the Guardian reported the Melbourne office was incurring around 60% of the company's costs.
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