Cook, Harvest House Announce Layoffs

Leading publishers report layoffs

Thursday, 19 March 2009 13:50

Two more publishers have announced layoffs in the light of the economic downturn.
David C. Cook let go 29 people in a late February move impacting its U.S. operations in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Elgin, Ill. The company's Canadian Distribution unit and the Kingsway music subsidiary in the United Kingdom were not affected.

Cook's CEO Cris Doornbos told Christian Retailing that although the company was ending its fiscal year June 1 with revenues ahead of last year, it was "positioning for the future and investments that were required for the future."

Harvest House Publishers, which declined to disclose numbers of employees affected by layoffs in late January, also made internal changes.

"Like many other publishers in our industry, we have had to conduct a small reduction in our workforce to proactively deal with the economic downturn," said Harvest House President Bob Hawkins Jr. "It was a decision that will enable Harvest House to continue to be very healthy for the years to come, even if the economy does not turn around right away."