The country's largest media conglomerate Media Prima Bhd will undergo a "substantial reduction" in its workforce, according to company sources.

Employees were informed of this development following the company's board meeting this afternoon, which decided that a group restructuring process be completed by the first quarter of next year.

"The company said they will honour their obligations to employees in full and town hall sessions on the restructuring exercise will be held soon," said a Media Prima employee.

Media Prima operates four free-to-air television stations (TV3, Ntv7, 8tv and TV9), several newspapers, four radio stations, a large stable of websites and several billboard advertising companies, among others.

The decision to slash staff - the second exercise in a year - follows tycoon Syed Mokhtar Albukhary's enlargement of his stake in Media Prima through Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd.

Aurora Mulia is believed to have a 32 percent stake in Media Prima, making it the largest individual shareholder.

Together with his ownership of printing permits for Utusan Malaysia, Mingguan Malaysia, Kosmo! and Malaysian Reserve, Syed Mokhtar is likely to have become the biggest player in the Malaysian media landscape.

Media Prima posted a net loss of RM49.2 million for the first half of 2019.