Bauer axes two sales director jobs as Trout and Daisley exit

Trout and Daisley, who were both employed by Emap before its acquisition by H Bauer, will not be replaced. They are the latest senior commercial executives to depart the publisher.

Last month, it was announced that Marcus Rich's joint roles as managing director of Bauer Advertising and Bauer London Lifestyle Magazines were being axed.

Previously, Dharmash Mistry's roles as managing director of Bauer Consumer Media and Bauer Performance were also scrapped.

The magazine sales team will now report directly to the individual magazine publishers, while Daisley's deputy, Kurt Edwards, has taken over the running of the digital team.

The redundancies, which are said to be a cost-cutting measure, are expected to be followed by more in the radio and finance divisions over the next fortnight .

One source added: "The perspective among the staff is that digital has gone backwards in the last 12 months. There's still a belief within the company that print will grow and become strong again, and it seems to be astonishing how little [the owners] understand digital."

It is alleged that the Bauer board is putting its faith in print titles such as FHM, with expectations that it can return to a circulation of 500,000 with the right editor at the helm, while new digital projects such as Ditto.net are not being given enough investment.

ProjectGuru, the fashion site that has been in the pipeline since before Emap was sold, is said to be the only digital element that Bauer's bosses are "pinning their hopes on".

A Bauer spokesman said the aim was to get closer to clients: "It aligns the magazine and digital teams with the radio sales teams, who already successfully report to the managing director of radio. Digital is a key plank of our strategy and Darmash's successor will be announced shortly."