Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Employment Bloodbath at ESPN

Today's the day that 100 (!) on-air employees at ESPN get fired. It's going to be brutal, and you're going to know many of their names. This is the internal memo that put employees on high alert...

ESPN President John Skipper frames the cuts around a shifting content strategy. ESPN’s content strategy, he writes, “still needs to go further, faster… and as always, must be efficient and nimble. Dynamic change demands an increased focus on versatility and value, and as a result, we have been engaged in the challenging process of determining the talent—anchors, analysts, reporters, writers and those who handle play-by-play—necessary to meet those demands. We will implement changes in our talent lineup this week.”

The cut of 100 on-air personalities represents 10% of the workforce.

UPDATE: NFL expert reporter Ed Werder is first to announce he was laid off by ESPN.