Belgian newspaper group Persgroep is to cut 131 jobs at the Volkskrant and Trouw newspapers, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

Persgroep took over the PCM newspaper group earlier this year and now owns all of the Dutch national dailies apart from the Telegraaf and the Financieele Dagblad. The NRC is up for sale to meet competition authority objections.
The Limburg Media Groep, owned by British newspaper publisher Mecom, also announced plans on Monday to scrap 48 jobs. The group has lost 8% of its subscribers and advertising income has gone down by 25% over the past two years, Nos tv reported.
Some 50% of Dutch households currently have a newspaper subscription, compared with 62% in 1997, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. City dwellers and the 25 to 45 age group are least likely to subscribe to a newspaper.
Subscriptions account for almost 90% of Dutch newspaper sales.