MediaNews Group, Hearst Newspapers and Freedom Communications have retained Bain Consulting to help realign their cost structures, says MNG Vice Chairman and CEO William Dean Singleton, who was speaking at a World Association of Newspapers meeting in Sweden.

“We asked Bain to answer the question: If we started the business today, know what we know today, what would our infrastructure look like?”

Singleton noted that by his count, “as many as 19 of [the] top 50 metro papers [are] losing money today. That number will continue to grow,” he said. “We expect a plan by the end of summer and we expect our business to look a lot different next year.” Evidently, parts of the findings are already being trickled down to organizational leaders.