Advanstar to outsource 100 jobs to India

[OhioChick]

Advanstar Communications announced Wednesday it will begin eliminating about 100 jobs in Duluth in the next six months.

Their work — producing trade magazines, directories and other specialty publications — will be outsourced to HCL Technologies, with operations primarily in India. Advanstar is based in Woodland Hills, Calif.

“In this highly competitive media marketplace, we need to focus on the things that we do well, creating a valuable platform for our clients, while handling other functions through partnerships or outsourcing agreements that will provide the economies of scale we need to operate more efficiently,” Advanstar CEO Joe Loggia said in a prepared statement.

About 75 people will remain employed in Duluth handling finance, audience development, human resources and limited production functions, according to Maya Pogoda, an Advanstar spokeswoman.

Affected workers will remain employees of Advanstar for two months. They will then be offered at least an additional four months of employment by HCL, Pogoda said. Dismissed workers will be eligible for severance packages.

“The company has tried to make this as smooth of a transition as possible,” she said.

Advanstar serves the fashion, life sciences and power sports industries. It manages a portfolio of 141 events, 60 publications and directories, 233 electronic products and Web sites, plus educational and direct marketing products and services.

The company has been affected by a downturn in business-to-business advertising, and has struggled under substantial debt following a $1.1 billion acquisition of the company in 2007 by an investor group led by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a management company that specializes in the media, communications and information industries.

In September 2009, Loggia announced the company had struck a deal with lenders that was expected to eliminate $385 million of that debt and generate $35 million in new capital investment.

More: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/164524/

or:

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/hcltf_advanstar-to-outsource-100-jobs-to-india-the-downtown-publishing-company-whose-local-roots-date-to--885811.html

[Skittles]

1. JAYSUS HOW I DETEST CORPORATE WHORE-SPEAK

In this highly competitive media marketplace, we need to focus on the things that we do well, creating a valuable platform for our clients, while handling other functions through partnerships or outsourcing agreements that will provide the economies of scale we need to operate more efficiently,” Advanstar CEO Joe Loggia said in a prepared statement. :puke:

[madrchsod]

2. cheap labor.wages just above begging in the streets