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OC Register parent company cutting 100 positions, including executives

Orange County Register Publisher Aaron Kushner (left) and company President Eric Spitz.
Orange County Register Publisher Aaron Kushner (left) and company President Eric Spitz.
(
Grant Slater/KPCC
)

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The Orange County Register's parent company Freedom Communications announced Wednesday that it's cutting about 100 positions, including top-level executives, the Register reports.

Publisher Rich Mirman said that the cutbacks won't affect the newsroom.

"The motivation for this change is the fact that we need to make [the company] profitable," Mirman said, according to the Register. "It needs to be a business that sustains itself."

Mirman said that the company continues to lose money, the Register reports. They'll be eliminating other publications, including OC Register Magazine.

This is the latest in a list of problems for the organization, including the launch of the Los Angeles Register, which ceased publication after five months; layoffs and buyouts of many staff members; and a dispute with the L.A. Times over newspaper delivery.

Mirman, a former casino executive, took over as publisher from co-owner Aaron Kushner in October. He heads both the Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which is also owned by Freedom Communications.

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