Alma Media - Company Announcement

Alma Media strengthens cooperation between its regional and local papers - Renewal of Alma Regional Media's operational model reduces staff by 103.5 work years

Alma Media Corporation   Stock Exchange Release   June 12, 2012 at 3:00pm (EEST)

ALMA MEDIA STRENGTHENS COOPERATION BETWEEN ITS REGIONAL AND LOCAL PAPERS
Renewal of Alma Regional Media's operational model reduces staff by 103.5 work
years

In April 2012, Alma Media announced that it will introduce a significant change
in the operational model of all of its regional papers. At the same time, Alma
Media's regional and local paper business unit, Alma Regional Media, initiated
statutory cooperation negotiations with its entire staff, a total of
approximately 810 people, to plan for the change. At the start of the
negotiations, Alma Regional Media preliminarily expected its staff might be
reduced by no more than 135 full-time work years as a result of the operational
model change.

The cooperation negotiations were concluded on Monday, June 11, 2012. The
decisions resulting from the negotiations will reduce Alma Regional Media's
staff by a maximum of 103.5 full-time work years. Out of these, 27 full-time
work years will be reduced through voluntary agreements on termination of
employment contracts and 32 work years through other solutions, for example
through the expirations of fixed-term employment contracts, retirements and
internal transfers within Alma Media Group. No more than 44.5 work years will be
reduced through redundancies, including five work-years for which the employees
concerned will be offered essential changes in their job descriptions. The
number of redundancies may thus decrease to 39.5 work years. Additionally, there
are currently 11 permanent and 14 fixed-term vacancies open at Alma Regional
Media, and these will be offered primarily to people that would be made
redundant.

The employer will offer supportive training to employees who will be made
redundant or agree to terminate their employment contracts.

Alma Regional Media is being structurally reorganised to increase internal
cooperation and to minimise overlapping functions. The organisation will in
future be created based on functions instead of individual papers. Editorial
content will be created by local editorial offices and virtual editorial offices
working in multiple locations. The virtual editorial offices will be responsible
for sports, culture and weekend content, to name a few examples. In addition,
the cooperation between Alma Regional Media's local papers and the district
offices of the regional papers will be strengthened by combining operational
locations.

As far as commercial operations (circulation sales, advertising sales, customer
service, advertisement production and marketing communications) are concerned,
the organisations of regional papers and local papers appearing within their
circulation areas will be combined by function and regionally.

-A significant change in the operational model, and the solutions involving a
reduction of staff-as painful as they may be-are unavoidable in today's business
environment. These decisions will secure the competitive position of our
newspapers while at the same time responding to changes in reader behaviour.
Closer cooperation between our papers and fewer overlapping functions will also
enable us to improve quality when we organise our work correctly and allocate
resources to local reportage. Our objective is to provide strong, financially
independent regional media with a local interest wherever we operate, says Kari
Juutilainen, Senior Vice President, Alma Regional Media.

Alma Regional Media comprises the regional newspapers Aamulehti, Satakunnan
Kansa, Lapin Kansa, Pohjolan Sanomat and Kainuun Sanomat, as well as 29 local
and city papers.



ALMA MEDIA CORPORATION
Rauno Heinonen, Vice President, Corporate Communications and IR



For more information, please contact:
Kari Juutilainen, Senior Vice President, Alma Regional Media, tel.
+358 50 435 4159 (reachable after 4pm EEST)



Distribution: NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, principal media



Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is a dynamic media company whose best-known products are the
Aamulehti, Iltalehti, Kauppalehti and Etuovi.com. Alma Media employs
approximately 3,000 professionals. The company's revenue in 2011 totalled MEUR
316.2 with an operating margin of 13.3 per cent. Alma Media's share (ALN1V) is
listed in the Mid Cap segment of the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more:
www.almamedia.com.


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