West Australian Newspapers (WAN) is reportedly planning to cut staff as its parent company Seven West Media is preparing to purchase News Corp’s The Sunday Times.

WAN CEO Chris Wharton circulated an email to staff warning that an unspecified number of roles at the company would be made redundant.

Wharton said in the email, “An unstable economic environment and changes to the media industry have presented many new and greater challenges for our organisations.

“These changes will mean a number of positions across the organisation will become redundant.

“Every effort will be made to redeploy affected staff to other positions across the business, however opportunities will not be able to be found for everyone and some employees will end their employment with us.”

Last month Seven West revealed it was in talks to buy News Corp’s The Sunday Times masthead and also its news website Perth Now.

The deal will require approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which will determine if the purchase will effect quality and diversity of content, newspaper and advertising prices.

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