Africa's top publisher to close South African publications, cut jobs

The headquarters of Media 24, owned by intenet, entertainment and media group Naspers, in Cape Town, South Africa, May 11, 2015. [REUTERS]

South African media and e-commerce group Naspers plans to lay off more than 500 employees and close a number of newspapers and magazines, including leading weekly tabloid the Sunday Sun, its print division Media24 said on Tuesday.

“For many of our print titles the benefits of prior interventions to offset the structural declines and keep them on the shelf no longer exist and they’ve run out of options in this regard,” Media24 CEO Ishmet Davidson said in a statement.