As Australian consumer confidence and spending has declined, so has overall newspaper circulation for the country's Fairfax Media Ltd, which reported decreased circulation at most of its titles in the third quarter, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Weekday editions of the Sydney Morning Herald experienced a 1 percent year-on-year decline in circulation to 209,508 copies. According to a Fairfax statement, sales of the Sun-Herald, the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times and the Australian Financial Review also dropped.

Fairfax, Australia's second-largest newspaper publisher, announced in August that it would cut employee numbers by 5 percent, or 550 positions, to save AU$50 million (US$32 million) in yearly costs, Bloomberg reported.

Profits prior to interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation plunged by “mid-teen” percentge points, said the publisher's CEO David Kirk, according to Bloomberg.

A National Australia Bank Ltd. Study revealed that confidence in business was at a record low in October. For 10 months, the country's pessimistic customers have outnumbered the optimistic ones, a customer confidence index lingering below 100, Bloomberg reported.