ESPN laid off 100 employees earlier this year and they are getting ready for another round of layoffs; this time, it will affect approximately 150 employees.
John Skipper, ESPN’s President, sent the following memo out employees on Wednesday advising them of the upcoming layoff which would mostly affect behind-the-scenes roles at the Disney-owned company.
“Today we are informing approximately 150 people at ESPN that their jobs are being eliminated.
We appreciate their contributions, and will assist them as much as possible in this difficult moment with severance, a 2017 bonus, the continuation of health benefits and outplacement services. They will also appreciate your support.
The majority of the jobs eliminated are in studio production, digital content, and technology and they generally reflect decisions to do less in certain instances and re-direct resources.
We will continue to invest in ways which will best position us to serve the modern sports fan and support the success of our business.
John”
Over the past few years, ESPN has had a rough go financially even though Disney’s revenues in other parts of the company are doing well. According to Fortune, “ESPN’s subscriber base has dropped by more than 10 million in the last few years, largely attributed to the ‘cord-cutting’ trend as more consumers cancel their cable subscriptions in favor of on-demand, online video streaming content instead.”
ESPN is set to launch their own streaming service in 2018 that will feature a live-action Star Wars series along with other special content.
Source: Fortune
