- Noreen O'Leary

NEW YORK Aegis Group said it would cut 780 employees, or about 5 percent of its global staff.

The cuts represent a continuation of staff reductions begun in 2008, rather than new layoffs, the U.K.-based company said. Employees will be let go from offices of its Aegis Media, Carat and Synovate operations in 40 global markets -- though Carat USA will not be affected, as it already had cuts late last year.

Aegis disclosed the number of layoffs yesterday during its discussion of its 2008 financial year that saw a 21 percent spike in revenue to $1.92 billion and a nearly 27 percent rise in profit to $240 million. Like most of its holding company brethren, Aegis provided no detailed guidance for 2009.

This marks the second major agency staffing cut this week. On Wednesday, Interpublic Group media agency Universal McCann confirmed the layoff this week off 59 staffers, or almost 8 percent of its U.S staff. The cuts hit employees working on accounts across the board in UM's New York, Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

While some of the cuts were due to the economy, UM global CEO Matt Seiler said they also anticipate staffing needs as the result of changes he is about to undertake at the company. Seiler, who joined UM from rival PHD last July, has moved quickly to begin that process, starting last year by restructuring U.S. leadership through the appointment of new members to UM's global management team.
 
"We have restructured the global team and we are on our way to an overall restructuring," Seiler said. "In order to do some fairly radical things at Universal McCann, we have to lay the groundwork for that. While we have tried to keep as many people as we could, we can't accomplish what we need to do without some layoffs. Yes, this was about some reduction in client billings and revenue, but it's more about how can you deliver a better product than the traditional media agency model?"

The UM cuts were made on Monday. Among UM's key clients are Microsoft, General Motors, MasterCard, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Wireless, L'Oreal, Sony, the U.S. Army and Kohl's.
 
The agency and media business has been wracked by cuts since the economy began to turn for the worse last fall.

Some of the more notable recent developments include:

• Havas' Arnold trimming 40 staffers in Boston last week and instituting company-wide salary cuts, at least partly based on the impending departure of RadioShack and the continued bad economy.

• IPG's Mullen cutting 40 employees at its Wenham, Mass., headquarters, owing to client cutbacks.

• An ominous vow by WPP Group to trim 2 percent of its global staff, or 2,000-plus employees.

These newly unemployed, said recruiters, will need to adjust their expectations to harsh industry realities -- especially those with traditional backgrounds. Such realities include lower salaries, fewer perks and lesser job titles.

This story updates an earlier post with details of Aegis' layoffs