Sweeping layoffs may hit ESPN as early as today, with up to 350 jobs cut–more than 4 percent of the network’s workforce.
Bloomberg reports the cost-cutting comes after an announcement by Disney in August that its cable networks would fail to meet earnings targets due to losses in cable subscribers:
That triggered a selloff in the shares of many media companies. Disney had the second-largest long-term commitment to sports programming at $44.2 billion behind only 21st Century Fox Inc., according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That was before signing a long-term agreement with the NBA.
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The Big Lead reports upper-level employees will be heavily impacted by the layoffs, with a source telling the site “every job with a six-figure salary or more was reviewed as part of the process. The company is flying in extra HR people from Burbank to handle it. It’s gonna be ugly.”