The Sun-Times Media Group Inc. will suffer a US$8 million financial blow in the fourth quarter for job cuts at its flagship Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers.

The one-time, pre-tax charge largely comes from severance expenses for those employees, as the publishing group, formerly controlled by Conrad Black, takes measures to reduce annual operating costs by $50 million before June, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday.

The cost-cutting measures were announced in December.

“We have made significant progress in a relatively short time period,” CEO Cyrus Freidheim Jr. said in a statement, according to the Canadian Press. “These reductions come during a tough period for the news industry, but we firmly believe that resizing the organisation and continuing to invest in growth areas, such as online media, are key to creating shareholder value.”

Positions to be eliminated include jobs in advertising, circulation, distribution, editorial, executive, finance, IT, marketing and production departments, E&P reported.