ESPN to cut 4.4% of its workforce


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 22 October 2015





ESPN is about to announce job cuts of up to 4.3% of its total workforce worldwide.


According to a company fact sheet ESPN currently has 8,000 employees worldwide, so that works out to about 344 people.

ESPN, which faces increasing programming costs as sports rights continue to get more expensive, has seen millions of viewer losses of late. In August, Disney dropped its profit growth expectations for the sports network amid ramped-up competition from FOX Sports, TBS and other smaller players, like BeIN Sports. In September, Disney announced that ESPN would have to cut around $100 million from its budget in 2016 and as much as $250 million from the 2017 budget to stay profitable.

Lay-offs aren't the only way to do that. "ESPN has historically embraced evolving technology to smartly navigate our business," said the company. "Any organisational changes will be announced directly to our employees if and when appropriate."