Mirror publisher’s boss warns print titles could become loss-making in five years

Reach chief tells staff to face ‘inconvenient truth’ over print but says digital will stabilise profitability

The boss of the publisher of the Mirror, Express and Star newspapers has warned staff they have to face the “inconvenient truth” that its print titles will become loss-making in as soon as five years.

The chief executive of Reach, which also owns scores of regional titles including the Manchester Evening News, the Birmingham Mail and the Liverpool Echo, also maintained that the publisher has “significant resources” despite cutting almost 800 roles in the biggest annual cull of jobs in the newspaper industry in decades.