The Daily, a digital-only news publication championed by News Corp.founder Rupert Murdoch, is laying off nearly a third of its staff.
In cutting 50 of the roughly 170 employees at The Daily, the publication plansto focus resources on its more popular features. It says the move reflects the"changing business environment for news and media."
When The Daily launched in January 2011, News Corp. executives predicted thatit would cost $30 million a year to run the publication. Yet more than a yearlater it had only about 100,000 subscribers who paid up to 99 cents per week,and about 250,000 visitors each month. The publication also runs someadvertisements.
The app is available on Apple Inc.'s iPads and iPhones and tablet computersthat use Google Inc.'s Android system.
The reorganization at The Daily comes as News Corp. makes plans to spin off itspublishing assets, including The Daily, from the more profitable entertainmentarm, which houses its TV assets such as Fox News Channel and movie studio 20thCentury Fox.
The Daily will stop reporting on sports and instead use content from partnerssuch as Fox Sports. The standalone Opinion section is being scrapped. Insteadit will publish opinion pieces in news pages from time to time.
It will also publish pages in the portrait format only, instead of horizontallyas well, to reflect the preference of most readers.
"These are important changes that will allow The Daily to be more nimbleeditorially and to focus on the elements that our readers have told us throughtheir consumption that they like and want," editor-in-chief Jesse Angelosaid in a statement.
News Corp. said the media conglomerate "remains committed" to TheDaily and will keep it an important part of its publishing assets.