The China Times will lay off almost half of its 1,200 staff due to financial difficulties, mainly stemming from business and advertising declines in Taiwan, union and newspaper officials announced Wednesday, Monsters & Critics reported.

“In the face of a widening deficit and streamlining of the newspaper, a large-scale redundancy in terms of people and facilities is inevitable,” Chou Sheng-yuan, the newspaper's publisher, stated in a letter to employees.

The letter from Chou did not state exactly how many employees will be laid off, but in a meeting with trade union officials, he said it would be between 500 and 600, officials said, according to M&C.

Chou also stated in his letter that although management has tried to improve the company's income over the past year, the efforts failed due to difficulties in business and advertising sectors in Taiwan, M&C reported.

More details of the plan will be announced in mid-July, Lin Sheng-feng, the newspaper's director, said, confirming the job cuts Wednesday.

The company has laid of 3,500 employees in the past seven years, and in 2005 closed its China Times Express due to losses.