The Minnesota Star Tribune announced Tuesday that it plans to cut about 15 percent of its staff through buyouts and layoffs.
Publisher Steve Grove also said the Star Tribune is exploring a new ownership model — potentially placing the state’s largest news organization, a for-profit newsroom, under the ownership of a nonprofit foundation.
In a message to the Star Tribune’s staff, Grove called the planned job cuts a “very difficult” decision.
“The colleagues leaving us have dedicated years, and in some cases decades, to help build this institution. We’re deeply grateful for their contributions to the Minnesota Star Tribune and to journalism in Minnesota. We would not be where we are today without them,” Grove wrote. “We’re making this decision because it is necessary to position us for growth as a digital media company.
“The business model and organizational footprint that has sustained local news for generations is undergoing its biggest disruption ever. Because we are now a digital media company, our structure and size need to change to reflect that reality, and give us opportunities for more digital growth, which our future depends on,” Grove wrote.
The Star Tribune reported that it employs nearly 500 people, including close to 200 in the newsroom. Grove said the buyouts and layoffs will affect all parts of the company, including the newsroom — but will not include reporters, photographers or videographers.
The news comes just under a month after the Star Tribune staff won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting for their coverage of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in south Minneapolis.
Late last year, the Star Tribune closed its printing facility in Minneapolis — outsourcing that work to a facility in Iowa, resulting in about 125 workers losing their jobs.
The Star Tribune Guild, the union representing newsroom employees, issued a statement saying it will fight the cuts announced Tuesday.
“The argument made by Star Tribune management that these layoffs are going to improve our company in any way, shape or form lacks any foundation in reality,” the union wrote. “This is a direct attack on the staff that just won a Pulitzer Prize for our work and has been widely praised — including by management — for its efforts.”
In addition to announcing the job cuts, Grove’s message to staff said Star Tribune leadership has been working with owner Glen Taylor “on a long-term plan for the stewardship of this organization.”
Taylor has owned the Star Tribune since 2014.
“The intention is to explore placing the Minnesota Star Tribune under foundation ownership, similar to other for-profit newsrooms owned by foundations, to expand opportunities for philanthropic donations to support the core business,” Grove wrote. “In the coming months, we’ll be working closely with Glen and our board on building that model that creates new ways for others to join Glen in his commitments to our future.”
Other for-profit news outlets that exist under nonprofit ownership include the Philadelphia Inquirer, Salt Lake Tribune and Tampa Bay Times.
Editor’s note: Star Tribune owner Glen Taylor is the father of Jean Taylor, president and CEO of American Public Media Group — the parent company of MPR News.
