ESPN Layoffs Today, 400 Fired; Network 'Forced by Disney' to Cut Staff?
ESPN layoffs started today with potentially 400 employees about to be out of jobs due to the high price of broadcasting rights.
"I was laid off from ESPN today after 9 and a half years," a source told Deadspin. "Completely out of the blue, no warning at all. I was told it was 10% across the board, which would be roughly 400. I was told the reason was they needed to make their profit margin and they chose to do that via layoff of staff."
ESPN confirmed the layoffs by releasing a small statement.
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"We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive," the sports giant said.
Inquisitr reports that Technology department was getting hit the worst, and the high prices coming from having some of the biggest sporting events in the world on their stations.
"The majority of the layoffs today and tomorrow are in Technology ... something like 40 people, at least that's what I've heard," the insider told Deadspin. "All three HR people assigned to Technology are handling layoffs today and tomorrow. No idea what is going on in the other departments. I was told ESPN was forced, by Disney, to do the layoffs due to profit margins. The end numbers [and] percentages, may not be exactly what they're telling us as we're being laid off."
The sports network just signed a 12-year deal in November that will allow them to televise the new college football system for $470 million a year.
ESPN employs about 7,000 worldwide with 4,000 of them located in Bristol, Conn. at their headquarters.
Disney, ESPN's mother company, recently laid off 150 people off of LucasArts, the video game branch of Lucasfilm, as well.
AOL reported ESPN also had a large layoffs in 2001 and 2009, but ultimately grew in staff.
"ESPN, which averages 115 million viewers a month, is remarkably profitable. In the last quarter, the operating income of Disney's cable networks rose 15 percent to $1.72 billion, with Disney partly attributing that to ESPN's success," the report said. "The laid-off worker also said that the last time there were layoffs, in 2009, older and more expensive workers faced the brunt of the bloodbath. The cable network stated at the time that it was replacing those jobs with others that 'more effectively grow our company.'"
