McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) cut 611 jobs across four of its divisions in Q4, incurring a restructuring charge of $43.7 million, mostly related to severance packages. The layoffs represented three percent of the company’s total staff. McGraw-Hill’s education and financial units took the biggest hits, losing 476 combined jobs and restructuring charges of $16.3 million and $18.8 million, respectively. About 21 general corporate posts were eliminated.

The Information & Media division took a $6.7 million charge and shaved 114 positions. And with many of the cuts implemented by other media companies lately, the changes wrought by the rise of digital was blamed, particularly with respect to the group’s B2B group—which includes BusinessWeek, J.D. Power and Associates, Platts, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. At the end of December, BW said it was letting a dozen staffers go ahead of a plan to meld print and online functions. Release

-- Reuters: The 611 job cuts represented a second round of layoffs. McGraw-Hill is considering the possibility of a third round. Speaking at Citigroup’s 18th Annual Global Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix, AZ, Harold McGraw III, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said: “Hopefully this does it, but we’re prepared to do a third tier if necessary.”

• BW Integrates Print, Online Coverage; A Dozen Laid Off