It shows just how bad things are when the world's most profitable free newspaper titles have to make cuts. As Stephen Brook reports today, Metro UK has begun a round of redundancies.
But it doesn't sound to me like too dramatic a move, more of a trim than a cut. Several things seem to be happening at once. The titles will carry fewer listings, a slight design revamp is being carried out, and a new Atex publishing system is enabling greater efficiencies.
At the same time, budgets for complementary websites and for "green issues" - notably, a greater commitment to recycling - have been increased. Meanwhile, I understand that revenues for last month were up on the same month a year ago.
That said, no one at the company - ultimately owned by Daily Mail & General Trust - is hiding the fact that revenues are likely to tail off in the coming months and next year could prove turbulent.
Meanwhile, Karen Wall, Metro's assistant managing director, has just been telling a international conference that the free newspaper model is growing. So the company's commitment to newsprint remains strong.
In truth, Metro's managers appear to be taking the necessary precautions to ride out the coming storm. As Bette Davis said so memorably in All About Eve: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride."
