Malay Mail to cease print edition, will go fully digital December 2

Malay Mail is ceasing its print edition on December 1 to turn fully digital.

Editor-in-chief Wong Sai Wan has stated that the company, which employs about 165 people, announced to staff on Thursday (Oct 25) afternoon that it was undergoing “a change of business direction” which would see it cut a third of its wage bill.

“I have also offered the staff one week to tell me what they want to do – retrain, join a bigger organisation, get us to help them look for a job or retire or go into business – tell me,” he said.

“It is a change of business direction. We are going into the full gambit of the digital business from content to marketing. The old way of doing the newspaper business of advertising subsidising the circulation, editorial and printing costs is no longer viable” he added.

Wong said Malay Mail would expand from being just a news outlet to offering a full range of digital products such as “managing and marketing” online presence for others.