layoffs

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Video game maker Activision Blizzard is laying off nearly 800 workers as the company braces for a steep downturn in revenue following the best year […]

More than 50 positions in NBCUniversal’s advertising sales group are expected to be eliminated as the company works to allocate more resources to digital and other kinds of advertising. “From time to time we look across the business to ensure we’re best positioned to stay competitive in this rapidly changing marketplace. As a result, there will be some staffing changes within our advertising division,” the company said

Tribune Broadcasting laid off 120 employees in Texas, including 52 based in Houston, due to the media company’s cancellation of the Morning Dose and NewsFix shows, according to a notice the company filed with the Texas Workforce Commission. The layoffs will take effect on Nov. 6, Tribune said in its letter.

Sony Pictures TV on Wednesday laid off a number of employees at its programming, home entertainment, and worldwide distribution divisions as part of its on-going consolidation at the company. The exact number of job cuts is unknown, but an insider confirmed that several people were let go. Sony declined to comment.

Former Los Angeles Times editor-in-chief Lewis D’Vorkin and dozens of other employees of Tronc Inc. were dismissed on Thursday. The cuts, which were made in a joint meeting with all the laid off employees present, included Tribune Interactive’s Los Angeles-based video and online content teams, which operate separately from the Los Angeles Times. No information on the total number of layoffs was immediately available.

‘Sobs, gasps, expletives’ follow news of the latest Denver Post layoffs on Wednesday. The newsroom will fall below 70 positions: a startling drop from a time not much more than a decade ago when the Post and its rival, the Rocky Mountain News, together had more than 600 journalists.

The television company has, over the last week, tapped a new CFO, canceled a planned public offering and axed some high-level staffers. It turns out that the company has had some professional help in making these tough decisions. In December, Univision brought in management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group to help the company chart a path forward.

Twenty Univision staffers were laid off last Friday as part of cost-cutting measures, including high-level executives at the Univision-owned Fusion Media Group, which consists of the Fusion TV network, as well as digital publishers, including The Onion, Gizmodo and The Root.

Vox Media, the owner of news and lifestyle websites like SB Nation and Eater, is laying off about 50 employees, a sign that Facebook’s recent algorithm changes are forcing publishers to shift strategies. The cuts were confined mostly to workers who produce social media video for Vox’s Media’s fashion site, Racked; Curbed, which focuses on real estate; and sports-oriented SB Nation

Fusion TV, the Doral, Fla.-based TV network that is part of the Fusion Media Group, is cutting nearly half of its documentary staff, laying off six members of a 13-person group.

Less than a week after taking over Time Inc., Meredith is planning to ax 700 people in its Tampa, Fla., Time Customer Service center.

Viacom has started another round of staff layoffs as part of its ongoing cost-cutting effort. The job cuts, which are expected to not reach triple digits, will be focused on support employees — so not those directly involved in content creation. The affected staff represents less than 1% of the company’s 10,000 employees.

Snapchat parent Snap Inc. laid off roughly two dozen people across eight different teams on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. Most of the layoffs were in Snap’s content division, the people said, which includes editors who curate user-submitted videos for breaking news and other events. A handful of employees in New York and London were also asked to relocate to the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. Some layoffs also took place in Snap’s engineering and partnership teams.

The news release from Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Circa website speaks of “moving forward,” launching an app and securing news feeds from the company’s national news desk in D.C. What it doesn’t mention: Seven staffers at the company have lost their jobs, well-placed sources have told the Erik Wemple blog.

Lawmakers on the House and Senate’s top antitrust committee say Congress should take a closer look at Disney’s $52 billion bid to buy 21st Century Fox.

The Walt Disney Co. this morning announced its acquisition of a major portion of 21st Century Fox in a deal that dramatically positions Disney for the future. Before the buyout, 21st Century Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders.

ESPN will lay off more than 100 staffers after the Thanksgiving holidays, multiple sources say. The layoffs, which were described by a person briefed on the plans, will hit positions across ESPN including front-facing talent on the television side, producers, executives, and digital and technology staffers.

More bad news could be on the horizon for ESPN. Staffers at the Worldwide Leader in Sports are bracing for another possible round of layoffs late this year, multiple sources say. The next round of cutbacks could come down in late November or early December, with 40-60 positions potentially being impacted, according to sources. The layoffs could hit both on-air TV/radio talent and behind-the-scenes production staffers.

Even Chicago’s No. 1 television station isn’t immune from industrywide pressures to cut costs. Sources say ABC O&O WLS has eliminated “about half a dozen” jobs as part of a restructuring and reallocation of resources throughout Disney/ABC Television Group. No full-time anchors or reporters were affected by the layoffs, which were said to involve several departments.

Disney | ABC Television Group has begun laying off employees, part of a long-anticipated restructuring and reallocation of resources at the Walt Disney Co.’s non-sports broadcast and cable television arm. A source says that the company began notifying affected employees Thursday morning. The volume of employees impacted is said to be significantly lower than the 10% workforce cut that had been speculated when news broke of the layoff plan six weeks ago.

Miramax, the onetime indie film powerhouse founded by the Weinstein brothers, has laid off 20 employees in a second round of downsizing this year under a new chief executive. The Santa Monica film and television company cut executives in the sales and finance departments, as well as workers in support roles, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The company, led by Ben Sherwood, is aiming to reduce costs by 10 percent by the end of the fiscal year. The cutbacks could mean staff reductions and restructuring. However, a source says there is no specific headcount as plans for the possible cutbacks are still in the early planning stages. The group includes broadcast network ABC, as well as cable channels ESPN, Freeform, Disney Channel and Disney XD.

At least a dozen employees at KYTV and KSPR in Springfield, Mo., including anchor Jerry Jacob, were laid off Friday morning in what management has called a consolidation of newsrooms.

The cuts, which are impacting about 2% of Vice Media’s 3,000 person staff, comes as the company grows its video operations internationally.