Netflix is bracing for its next round of layoffs as the streaming giant looks to cut costs in the wake of its stock troubles. Impacted staff are expected to be told at the end of the week. It’s unclear what departments are going to be hit, but sources suggest that the cuts could be similar in size to the round of reductions undertaken in May. At that time, Netflix laid off 150 employees and dozens of contractors and part-time workers.
A little more than a month after Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was pulling the plug on CNN+, CNN began laying off affected staffers Tuesday, according to multiple sources.
Layoffs are underway at Netflix today. About 150 positions out of the streamer’s 11,000 workforce are being eliminated amid a slowdown in the company’s revenue growth. They are largely based in the U.S., a significant portion in creative. A number of them are in the executive ranks, including in original content, with a couple of director-level original series execs rumored to be leaving.
Netflix is reorganizing its marketing department, promoting some key executives, while eliminating several positions. As part of the move, 25 people from Netflix’s global marketing team of more than 500 employees will be laid off.
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Black News Channel, which is known as BNC, announced layoffs just days before the Christmas holiday. “I am reaching out to you today with some very unfortunate news about a reduction in our workforce,” said President and CEO Princell Hair in an internal memo. It was not immediately clear how many staffers will be impacted by the cuts, but BNC employs roughly 300 people.
A month ago, Vice Media announced a plan to reduce the number of text articles it publishes on Vice.com, Refinery29 and other Vice-owned sites by 40% to 50% as the company shifts its emphasis to video. On Thursday, Vice Media laid off more than a dozen employees, many of them writers and text editors.
The company, which operates some 130 local stations and a number of regional sports networks, will lay off more than 550 employees as the pandemic continues to slow economic growth.
Crown Media Family Networks had a round of staff cuts Monday. “As part of a restructure to realign roles and responsibilities, some positions were eliminated,” the company said in a statement to Deadline. “This was done in an effort to decrease redundancies, optimize effectiveness, and create more support level roles.” The company would not comment on the number or size of layoffs involved.
The company had added to its workforce to help with its coverage of the 2020 election, and with the election over the company is adjusting its staffing to account for the less intense news cycle.
ABC News is laying off staffers amid a broader reorganization at parent company Walt Disney, one that impacts a low single-digit percentage of the news division’s 1,400 staffers, according to a source familiar with the situation. In a memo to employees sent Thursday evening, ABC News President James Goldston said that the personnel reductions were “necessary” as the company adapts to changes in the business and its organizational structure. Those who have been let go will end their tenures at ABC News in early 2021.
The company discloses that it plans to cut about 4,000 more staffers than previously targeted, mostly in its theme parks unit, during the first half of fiscal year 2021 due to the coronavirus crisis.
Sources say fewer than 5% of the total employees in Frances Berwick’s recently reorganized division will be affected. The cutbacks, which had been expected, will impact staffers that are VP level or below PR, marketing, acquisitions and finance. Another round of layoffs is expected to come early next year in Susan Rovner’s recently unveiled entertainment content unit.
A person familiar with the situation said some 100 staffers are affected across the combined company. The move is part of a streamlining and cost-cutting push when Viacom and CBS merged last December. The cuts started in January and there have been a few more rounds since, with the latest affecting joint services like legal and finance as well advertising and creative.
ESPN’s chief said the Disney sports-media division would eliminate 500 positions – 300 employees and 200 posts that are currently unfilled – in a bid to free up resources for streaming, digital and other kinds of video experiences designed for the new ways fans are engaging with sports.
Sony Pictures Entertainment merged its theatrical, home entertainment and television distribution marketing teams in the U.S., resulting in about 35 layoffs. The U.S. will be run from a central marketing group overseen by Paul Noble and Danielle Misher, co-heads of theatrical marketing, along with Lexine Wong, head of global multichannel distribution marketing.
The bulk of the projected layoffs stemming from NBCUniversal’s recent restructuring are starting next month, sources say. Nov. 12 is penciled in as the target date as company brass are eying mid-next month for the second wave of staff reductions to begin. The cuts will likely come in two waves, one in mid-November and one in late December, with as many as 150-300 employees affected.
Two-thirds of the planned layoffs at parks in California and Florida involve part-time workers but they ranged from salaried employees to hourly workers, Disney officials said. Disney’s parks closed last spring as the pandemic started spreading in the U.S. The Florida parks reopened this summer, but the California parks have yet to reopen as the company awaits guidance from the state of California.
Meredith is laying off 130 people at its 17 stations as part of companywide “initiatives to address the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and position our business for continued growth.”
Fox News Media said that it was restructuring some of its divisions, with a reduction of its workforce by less than 3%. “As Fox News Media has evolved into a streamlined multi-platform organization, we are realigning several functions and restructuring various divisions in order to position all of our businesses for ongoing success,” the network said in a statement. No on air talent is impacted by the staff reductions.
It is a difficult day at WarnerMedia, which is undergoing a round of major layoffs, part of a companywide restructuring spearheaded by new CEO Jason Kilar. As part of realignment, leaving the company are (l-r) Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, president, Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution; Ron Sanders, president, Worldwide Theatrical Distribution & Home Entertainment and EVP, International Business Operations; and Kim Williams, EVP and chief financial officer, Warner Bros. Entertainment.
NBCUniversal has begun making staff cuts across its entertainment portfolio including its sports and cable channels, broadcast networks, movie studio and theme parks, according to people familiar with the matter. The layoffs have been anticipated for several months and are primarily tied to the effect the coronavirus has had on many of the Comcast Corp. unit’s operations.
Fox Sports has laid off 50 to 100 staffers in what is being described as a restructuring and streamlining effort at the company, TheWrap has confirmed. That number amounts to 5% to 10% of the company’s total workforce.
LinkedIn will lay off about 960 workers across the company’s global sales and talent acquisition organizations as it grapples with falling demand for recruitment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The axe is about to fall at media giant NBCUniversal to offset losses brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Post reports. The scale of the layoffs could not yet be determined, but insiders described the job cuts as “sweeping”and “significant.”
Vox Media laid off about 6% of its staff on Thursday, citing the pandemic’s impact on revenue across the media industry. The digital media company, which owns a namesake news site as well as The Verge, Eater and the popular biweekly New York Magazine, employs about 1,200 people. This means the layoffs amount to 72 employees. The majority of these employees were already furloughed in April at the height of the US’ coronavirus pandemic.
The BBC has announced plans to cut a further 70 jobs from its news division, with Radio 4 and political programming expected to be badly hit. The cuts are on top of 450 previously announced.
Vox Media, the owner of media properties including New York Magazine, The Verge, SBNation and Eater, has informed its worker unions to prepare for company-wide layoffs, according to people familiar with the matter. Vox spoke with union leaders Monday to inform them of their plan to cut staff, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Vox furloughed about 100 employees in April, or 9% of its staff, until July 31 as Covid-19 affected advertising budgets.
Nielsen announced a new plan to cut costs and create operational efficiencies that will result in the reduction of its global workforce by about 3,500 employees. The company expects that plan to generate savings of about $250 million annually after taking a 2020 pre-tax restructuring charge of about $150 million to $170 million dollars. Nielsen had estimated that the charges would total between $120 million and $140 million.
