The premier of British Columbia went on a 2½-minute tirade Thursday morning as he called out the parent company of Bell Media, which had earlier announced thousands of layoffs and the sale of dozens of local radio stations in communities across Canada.
In its largest round of job cuts in nearly 30 years, BCE Inc. said it was cutting nine per cent of its workforce, equating to 4,800 jobs, and selling 45 of its 103 regional radio stations, 21 of them in B.C.
Bell Media said separately it would be ending multiple television newscasts and making other programming cuts.
“On behalf of all British Columbians that have watched their local news station slowly turn to garbage by these companies, who now say, unsurprisingly, that there is not a lot of support for them, I just want to say: shame on you,” Premier David Eby said at an unrelated news conference in Coquitlam, B.C.
The radio stations up for sale in B.C. are mostly in smaller communities such as Dawson Creek, Nelson and Prince Rupert.
WATCH | Premier rails against loss of local news as a result of BCE cuts:
‘Shame on you’: B.C. premier slams corporation behind Bell media job cuts
9 hours ago
Duration 2:25
David Eby called on the federal government to intervene over an announcement by BCE Inc. to cut 4,800 jobs and sell off 45 radio stations, describing the company and others like it as “corporate vampires” that have “overseen the encrapification of local news.”
BCE said it is in the midst of a “digital transformation” for both entertainment and news, but whether or not prioritizing digital growth is viable for the company has yet to be determined.
Eby was having none of that reasoning, saying the corporation is profitable and, as part of its corporate social responsibility, should be able to find ways to continue to provide news and information across Canada.
“Bell and other corporations like Bell have overseen the assembly of local media assets that are treasures to local communities,” he said. “They bought them up, like corporate vampires, sucked the life out of them, laid off journalists.”
Eby called on Ottawa to intervene, arguing companies like BCE were given the green light to acquire television and radio stations from federal regulators.
At a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday, federal Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said she was “extremely” disappointed in BCE’s decision, but did not immediately announce any recourse.
“In the past decade, when acquisitions were allowed for those big companies to acquire television stations or radio stations, it came with the promise that they would deliver on news content. And today, they are backing [away] from that promise,” she said.
BCE blamed the federal government for taking too long to provide relief for media companies, as well as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for being too slow to react to the changing media landscape.
‘Reprehensible … appalling’
Eby said the latest cuts would cause B.C. to suffer due to a lack of information — especially during times of crisis, such as annual wildlife and flooding events that are growing increasingly severe due to climate change.
“I find it reprehensible. I think it’s appalling, and Bell and other companies like Bell that have done this need to be held accountable for the information atmosphere that we find ourselves in today,” he said.
No plans for closures, layoffs in B.C. radio stations: buyer
On Thursday, Vista Radio, which owns dozens of radio stations in three provinces and the Northwest Territories, announced plans to purchase the 21 B.C. radio stations being put up for sale, including an additional 27 regional repeater transmitters in the province.
“We’re very much focused on local radio. I think that is what has made us successful,” said Vista Radio president Bryan Edwards, which is owned by private equity firm Westerkirk Capital Inc.
Edwards said there are no plans for closures or layoffs at the B.C. stations — which have about 80 employees total — some of which he believes are understaffed.
Vista bought its first radio station in 2004 in Duncan, B.C., and if its plan to acquire the Bell stations is approved by the CRTC, it would have more than 70 stations.
“Done properly, a local radio station is frankly a mirror of the community and that is what we position ourselves to be,” said Edwards.
He said the acquisitions might take up to a year to complete, but Vista planned on expanding hiring after welcoming Bell Media employees into the fold.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
