MediaCorp Publishing, a subsidiary of Mediacorp Singapore’s publishing arm, will close down its Malaysian operations effective March 31, a move that will involve layoffs of its 20 employees.

The decision was made following the recently signed licensing deal between MediaCorp Publishing Malaysia Sdn Bhd with Measat Publications to publish the Malaysian editions of Style and FHM from April 2009 onwards as well as the ceased publication of Mother & Baby’s Malaysian edition with effect from next month.

For FHM, MediaCorp had brokered the licensing deal between Measat and FHM licence holder Bauer Consumer Media in the UK. FHM, which has a circulation of 30,000 copies, was first published locally in 2004. Style, a locally developed magazine by Mediacorp Singapore, was launched in the Malaysian market three years later. It has a circulation of 25,000.

“We’ve been in the market for 10 years, and it’s been a tough one for MediaCorp,” said MediaCorp Publishing Malaysia general manager Sivam Kumar in a recent phone interview.

“Licensing was one of the long-term strategies MediaCorp was looking at and when the opportunity came for us to look at it within Malaysia itself, the current market situation sort of accelerated the process. The timing (of the Measat licensing deal) was almost perfect,” he said.

“We thought that was the best time to move forward and to work on a licensing angle, where the risk factor is a lot lower probably for MediaCorp. The partnership we have with Measat helped to close our business in Malaysia — they were lacking a good English women’s magazine title so Style fit the genre perfectly,” said Sivam.

Closing the Malaysian operations was a cost-saving measure as well. “Evidently by us not being here, we don’t have people to look after,” he said. With regard to the staff, Sivam said they were offered jobs in Measat and MediaCorp Singapore, as it was Mediacorp Publishing’s responsibility to help them secure a job elsewhere.

“At this point of time we’re just waiting for Measat to come back to us on the interviews. We’ve engaged recruitment agencies and have their CVs rerouted to other companies and our contacts as well,” he said.

Asked where he would be heading to next, Sivam said he had received a number of “job offers from outside”, but has not decided on any yet. “I think it’s nice to just take a break and look at the market first to see where I want to go from here. However, I will not be going back to Measat.”

Asked whether there would be a significant change in editorial content once the publications are under the Measat stable, Sivam said MediaCorp Singapore would be working hand-in-hand with Measat in terms of the magazines’ direction to maintain content quality.

“With MediaCorp, the decision to license works well for the company and the brand. With Measat, we found the right partners to work with as their multi-platform of media and TV will be good for FHM’s branding. It’s a start for MediaCorp in licensing when we want to look at Asia as a whole and to license Style as a brand,” he said.

He said the closing of the Malaysian operations was not the end. “I look at it very positively because I know Measat will look after the brand; they can grow and invest in it,” he said.

This article appeared on the Media & Advertising page, The Edge Financial Daily, March 17, 2009.