Cox Auto Trader to close Norfolk office

NORFOLK

Cox Auto Trader will close its downtown Norfolk office as part of a company-wide shift from print to online publications, a Cox executive in Atlanta said Monday.

Cox announced on Monday that it would close two of its automotive-classified magazines - AutoMart and AutoExtra - and devote more resources to their online counterparts.

Between its print and online operations, Cox Auto Trader employs about 4,300 people nationally. About 170 work at its Plume Street office in Norfolk, said Buddy Solomon, its vice president and chief operating officer.

Throughout the company, some employees on the print side will shift to online operations, and others will lose their jobs, Solomon said. A Cox news release said there would be "generous severance packages."

Solomon said he could not specify how many employees in Norfolk would be eligible for transfers and how many would be laid off.

"In the office in Norfolk, we will have a period of time where we will need people to help us transition the print business to online," Solomon said. "Long term, there will not be an office in Norfolk."

He said he did not know when the office would close.

The work force at the Norfolk office has already shrunk to less than half the size it was a year ago, with transfers to Cox Auto Trader's main base in Atlanta and job cuts.

Cox Auto Trader's businesses had been part of Trader Publishing Co., a joint venture begun in 1991 by Cox Enterprises Inc. and Landmark Communications Inc. - the Norfolk company now known as Landmark Media Enterprises LLC. Landmark publishes The Virginian-Pilot.

The companies split the businesses in 2006. Frank Batten Jr., Landmark's chairman and chief executive officer, said at the time that he wanted to reduce Landmark's exposure to the volatile classified advertising business.

Solomon said the internal shift at Cox reflected national trends in automotive advertising: Revenues on the print side began falling three to four years ago, and last year "that decline accelerated rapidly," exceeding 40 percent.

Meanwhile, he said, online advertising has enjoyed "tremendous" growth.

"On the one hand, we've got a business that is in rapid decline," Solomon said, "On the other hand, we've got a very successful online business."

AutoMart and AutoExtra are free weekly magazines that list cars available at dealers. Solomon said Cox had not decided when it would stop publishing the magazines.

Cox will continue to print AutoTrader and TruckTrader, which feature ads from individuals and dealers. Those are sold for about $1 to $1.25.

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com