Guardian News & Media plans to cut costs by 20%

The publisher of the Guardian newspaper is to slash running costs by 20 per cent, or £50 million, in a bid to break even within three years.

Guardian News & Media has been hit by a faster than expected downturn in print advertising and slower increase in digital revenues.

As part of a strategy for the future called Project 2021, the Guardian reported that its management team is to focus on enhancing the newspaper’s membership offering, international growth in the US and Australia, and better data management. The group aims to double reader revenues from £30 million to £60 million.

In a new strategy outlined to staff on Monday, editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said that the company's focus over the next three years will be "growing and far deeper set of relationships with our audience will result in a reimagining of our journalism, a sustainable business model and a newly-focused digital organisation that reflects our independence and our mission".

While job cuts were not discussed as part of the new strategy, The Times previously reported that Ms Viner is expected to inform staff of job cuts this week. The media company last had redundancies in 2012.

Annual operating costs at the Guardian had reached £268m, up 23 per cent over the five-year period, compared with a 10 per cent growth in revenues. The group is expected to announce operating losses of £53m in the year to the end of March, while the publisher has spent almost £80m in cash in the year.