Viacom has started another round of staff layoffs as part of its ongoing cost-cutting effort, TheWrap has learned.
The job cuts, which are expected to not reach triple digits, will be focused on support employees — so not those directly involved in content creation. The affected staff represents less than 1 percent of the company’s 10,000 employees.
CEO Bob Bakish addressed the “changes across the organization” in an internal memo obtained by TheWrap Tuesday.
“While these changes didn’t impact a large percentage of our workforce, I know they were difficult nonetheless,” Bakish wrote to staff. “We are saying goodbye to some great team members, some of whom have been here for a long time, and have made an important impact on this organization. We’re so grateful for their contributions, and want to assure you we’re taking many steps to make their transitions easier.”
Viacom owns Comedy Central, MTV, the recently rebranded Paramount Network, BET, VH1, Nickelodeon, CMT and other cable channels. The publicly traded corporation is also home to movie studio Paramount Pictures.
Viacom used to be part of CBS. The two companies are considering remerging into one again.
The company is set to report its third-quarter earnings on Thursday. Bakish stated during Viacom’s last earnings call in November 2017 that the company was evaluating some cost-cutting efforts.
Read the Bakish’s memo in its entirety below.
Team,
I know there’s been a lot of news in the past week – over the last year, in fact – about change (or potential change) in this company. I think it’s important to remember that so much of this change, while not always easy, has made us stronger. We’ve brought in new talent, re-energized our brands, rebuilt relationships – both inside these walls and out – and taken many other steps to strengthen and evolve our company for the future.
And, yes, sometimes change means making tough decisions – like today, where we made some changes across the organization. While these changes didn’t impact a large percentage of our workforce, I know they were difficult nonetheless. We are saying goodbye to some great team members, some of whom have been here for a long time, and have made an important impact on this organization. We’re so grateful for their contributions, and want to assure you we’re taking many steps to make their transitions easier.
It’s also very important to understand how purposeful our changes have been. It isn’t just about cutting costs – although we want savings, too, and more flexibility to invest in new areas. These moves are really about our continued efforts to create a more agile and efficient organization that can thrive in a time of constant change. I’ll be giving you more context around all of this in our Bob Live on Thursday, and can take any questions you have.
I’m so proud of all we’ve accomplished over the past year, and couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity the change in our industry creates. I want us to be an organization that is energized by reinventing this business, and has the capability and capacity to constantly transform. Let’s continually push ourselves to discover what’s new, and what’s next. Let’s get out of our silos and learn from each other, and create the new faster. Let’s embrace change and possibility.
Thank you for supporting each other through this process, and for your continued focus in driving us forward.
Best,
Bob
Golden Parachutes: See How Much These 10 Execs Got Paid to Leave (Photos)
Philippe Dauman, Marissa Mayer and Michael Ovitz are among a handful of entertainment and tech executives who were handed handsome sums of money while they were being forced out the door. (Please note: All totals are from SEC filings and other official sources.)
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Name: Philippe Dauman Company: Viacom Payday: $72 million Sumner Redstone's former protege -- and for years, one of America's highest-paid CEOs -- took home $72 million as part of a settlement that will see him depart the embattled media company in September.
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Name: Roger Ailes Company: Fox News Payday: $40 million Ailes left the news network he essentially built after a lawsuit filed by a former Fox News anchorwoman led to an investigation, and several other women coming forward accusing Ailes of sexual assault. Ailes resigned two weeks after the lawsuit was filed and received $40 million.
Fox News
Name: Michael Ovitz Company: The Walt Disney Company Payday: $140 million Not a CEO, the co-founder of Creative Artists Agency made $140 million in less than a year's work as the executive president of Disney, when he was fired by then-CEO Michael Eisner, triggering a severance package that was built into his deal -- and which Disney shareholders unsuccessfully tried to have returned in court.
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Name: Carly Fiorina Company: Hewlett-Packard Payday: $21 million The former Republican presidential candidate -- and Ted Cruz's presumptive running mate -- pocketed $21 million when she was forced to resign after orchestrating a disastrous acquisition of Compaq.
Fox News
Name: Marissa Mayer Company: Yahoo Payday: $55 million Mayer hasn't yet committed to leaving, but she's widely expected to depart the top job after Yahoo agreed to be purchased by Verizon for $4.8 billion. Mayer is guaranteed $55 million in severance if she loses her job or if there is a change in control.
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Name: Henrique de Castro Company: Yahoo Payday: $58 billion It turns out there is actually a good time to get fired: Mayer canned de Castro, Yahoo's chief operating officer, in 2014, but his heavily stock-based severance package was worth a robust $58 million, as Yahoo's stock had swelled at the time due to its ownership interest in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
YouTube
Name: Tom Freston Company: Viacom Payday: $85 million Freston, Dauman's precedessor and the man who essentially built MTV, was fired by Redstone in 2006. One of the biggest reasons: his failure to buy MySpace, which News Corp. eventually sold in 2011 for a $545 million loss.
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Name: Rob Marcus Company: Time Warner Cable Payday: $93 million Time Warner Cable was acquired by Charter Communications earlier this year, making his CEO job redundant. Marcus walked away with nearly $100 million after two-and-a-half years of work.
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Name: Jack Welch Company: General Electric Payday: $417 million GE's pugnacious boss scored the granddaddy of all severance packages, walking away with a monster deal that only became public during a divorce settlement that mandated the disclosure of his retirement benefits.
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Name: Amy Pascal Company: Sony Payday: Four-year production deal, valued at $40 million Pascal, whose personal emails were exposed as a result of the Sony hack landing her in hot water regarding references to President Obama -- was fired as co-chair of Sony's film division in the wake of the scandal. She got a production deal -- not uncommon for high-level studio execs -- that has her attached to some of the studio's biggest franchises, including "Spider-Man" and "Ghostbusters."
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Philippe Dauman is the second consecutive Viacom CEO to walk away with a monster severance package
Philippe Dauman, Marissa Mayer and Michael Ovitz are among a handful of entertainment and tech executives who were handed handsome sums of money while they were being forced out the door. (Please note: All totals are from SEC filings and other official sources.)