Hachette: Layoffs Aren’t Related to Amazon Fight

Hachette Book Group, the publishing company involved in an ongoing dispute with online marketplace Amazon, said Friday it would be cutting about 3% of its U.S. staff, according to Publishers Weekly.

The move is reportedly a part of a “cost-saving initiation” essential to the company’s future growth. Hachette, however, says the layoffs were planned well before its ongoing fight with Amazon broke out into the open. Amazon has been blocking customers from pre-ordering Hachette books and taking them off prominently featured pages in a dispute over the publisher’s contract with the online marketplace.

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Hachette’s sales reportedly fell 6.2% during the first quarter of this year. A total of 28 positions will be cut.

[Publishers Weekly]