Sydney-based independent magazine Paragon Media has made staff redundant as it closes the print operations of Women’s Health and Men’s Health magazines, reports The Australian.
Journalist Joseph Lam also reported the publisher will wind also wind down the digital operations of both titles online over the next several months, with an expectation their online presence will cease before the end of the year.
It’s understood the announcement came as a shock this morning to staff who were called into an unplanned meeting where they were delivered the news.
The Australian added the reason for the shutdown was part personal reasons and part commercial reasons.
Staff have not been given an official notice other than the verbal briefing early on Monday and are awaiting emails in the afternoon. The Australian said laid-off staff will continue working for two further weeks and are set to receive a full redundancy package.
It’s understood the digital operations will be used to honour any ongoing work commitments the titles may have.
The titles returned to magazine racks just two years ago after previously being published by Pacific Magazines. At the time Paragon publisher Ian Brooks also relaunched the digital destinations for both brands. At the time Brooks said: “We’re delighted to be recharging these iconic wellness and lifestyle brands and are very fortunate to have Scott Henderson and Jacqui Mooney lead a formidable team of content creators.”
Mooney left the title not long after relaunch and more recently joined News Corp’s Body+Soul where she oversaw the recent relaunch.
As part of that relaunch, Paragon also noted it was returning key brand extensions, including Women’s Health’s tentpole events, the Women in Sport (WinS) Awards and Fit Night Out, as well as Men’s Health’s celebrity transformations and MH Elite franchises, with more to be announced in the coming months.