289 jobs cut at Buffett's papers

NEW YORK • Mr Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway cut 289 jobs at its newspapers amid a decline in print readership and advertising revenue.

The cuts include 108 vacant positions, according to a memo from chief executive officer Terry Kroeger of BH Media Group. Some papers are also reducing the amount of pages they publish.

Mr Buffett expanded his bet on the industry in recent years, buying papers from Virginia to Oklahoma. The billionaire has praised newspapers that focus on local communities, which he says can be profitable.

The memo did not identify which of the publications were targeted for cost cuts. The firings were reported on Monday by the Omaha World Herald.

BLOOMBERG

New zone to focus on high-tech businesses

BEIJING • China's newly approved economic zone in heavily polluted Hebei province will focus on building clusters of high-tech and innovative businesses and take over some "non-capital functions" from Beijing, a government adviser was quoted as saying.

Beijing had announced plans to build Xiongan New Area, modelled on the Shenzhen special economic zone that helped kick-start China's economic reforms in 1980.

Xiongan will draw large state-owned companies but the process will be phased in, adviser Wu Hequan, of Beijing-Tianjin- Hebei integration project, told Caixin.

REUTERS