Viacom lays off 7 percent of workforce
Update at 7:59 a.m. PST: A RealNetworks representative quashes a rumor about a RealNetworks-MTV joint venture.
The long-expected layoffs at Viacom, parent company of MTV Networks, have finally taken place.
According to an internal memo (first leaked to gossip blog Gawker), 850 positions have been cut. That amounts to 7 percent of the company's workforce.
"Our advantages and best efforts can't completely protect Viacom from the very serious and broad-based challenges of this economic recession," CEO Philippe Dauman wrote in the e-mail. "Viacom's long-term health will depend on our shared commitment to adapt, to innovate and to make difficult choices. To compete and thrive, we need to create an organization and a cost structure that are in step with the evolving economic environment."
A press release Thursday from Viacom gave a more detailed explanation: "The restructuring and write-down together will result in a pre-tax charge of $400 million to $450 million, or $0.42 to $0.48 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. These staffing and compensation actions and write-downs are expected to result in pre-tax savings of $200 million to $250 million in 2009."
It's been common knowledge that Viacom layoffs were on the way, and the company had already canceled its big holiday parties this year, giving employees two extra vacation days in exchange.
In addition to MTV, Viacom owns BET Networks and Paramount Pictures. Its cable channels include Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, and Noggin.
According to a separate post on Gawker, the New York office for MTV-RealNetworks joint venture Rhapsody America is rumored to have closed, leaving 25 people jobless. RealNetworks spokesman Ryan Luckin said in an e-mail to me on Thursday that the rumor is false.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
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And, oh yea, bring back the US jobs and you will see and immediate improvement in the economy. Doesnt take a rocket scientist to know that this outsourcing BS has destroyed America.
But.......nothing will change. We'll go through the same old song and dance. Media says we're in a decline, robot CEOs lay off people and continue to pad their wallets.
We see right through the BS, you know.
Any executive that has to make job cuts should be forced by law to cut the salaries at the top before cutting jobs at the bottom. It's obvious that the execs aren't doing a good enough job if they have to start doing layoffs... therefor, they aren't deserving of the millions of dollars and all the perks, bonuses etc.