Faced with revenue shortfalls. The Globe and Mail, Canada’s #1 national newspaper, is offering voluntary buyouts to employees, in an effort to reduce costs, reports Financial Post. The offers were made last Thursday by Globe CEO Phillip Crawley in an all-staff meeting.

The goal is to cut staff by 40 employees, or 6 percent of the newspaper’s current workforce, through voluntary buyouts of both union and non-union staffers. If an insufficient number of employees accept the buyout offers, layoffs are likely. The privately-held Globe & Mail hopes to complete the process by November.

This will be the third time since 2013 that the 172-year-old Globe and Mail has made significant staffing cuts, says Financial Post. Previous cuts occurred in 2013, when the newspaper cut 60 jobs, and 2014, when the paper cut 18 more positions. In 2013, weekday print circulation was 290,000. It dropped to 230,000 in 2015. Weekly digital readership is at 4.5 million, according to a July report by Vividata, making it the most widely read newspaper in Canada.

“As the only Canadian newspaper to show a readership growth trend over the last five years, we remain your essential connection to Canada’s most influential and responsive audience,” says The Globe’s website.

In addition to having the most popular paper in Canada, The Globe notes that its largest segment of readers is millennials, from ages 12 to 34 (34 percent of readership). The next largest group is readers aged 50 to 64 (26 percent of readership).

Why the staffing cuts? According to Financial Post, last year digital subscription revenue comprised about 40 percent of total revenue for the Globe & Mail, compared to 25 percent 10 years prior. The digital revenue is not enough, however, to offset the loss of advertising revenue or a decline in print circulation. The staff cuts are part of a larger three-year plan to reduce costs.

The Globe is not the only Canadian newspaper struggling. In August, Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, cut 52 jobs. Those job cuts were made for similar reasons – cost cutting. In addition, however, the Toronto Star has not had the success it had anticipated in launching Star Touch, a tablet version of its newspaper.

“The moves are in response to declining advertising and our need to allocate the company’s resources as cost-effectively as possible,” said Bob Hepburn, a spokesman for the Star.

Insider Take:

While these cuts may be happening to Canadian newspapers, they are familiar scenes in media newsrooms across the globe. Time Inc., New York Times, The Guardian, Gannett and McClatchy have all been subject to layoffs or employee buyouts in recent years. There will certainly be more before the year is out.

It is tragic to see such respected news outlets lose key newsroom staff, but declining print circulation and ad revenue are huge factors and, though many of these organizations have experienced growth in digital readership, digital revenue is not enough to make up for the revenue shortfall. Unfortunately, this is likely to get worse before it gets better as the digital media landscape, shifting business models and ad blocking’s impact find some balance.