Some ESPN
workers are calling it Black Tuesday.
Despite
record profits, the Bristol-based company handing out layoff notices Tuesday to
an unknown number of employees in what appears to be a cost-cutting move
dictated by Walt Disney Co. executives.
It appears
that about 6 percent of ESPN’s workforce got a pink slip.
In a
companywide message sent out this morning on ESPN’s internal system, its
president, John Skipper said, “We are implementing changes across the company
to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult,
we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and
productive. “
Mike Soltys,
an ESPN vice president, said the layoffs are worldwide. The company has 7,000
employees, with more than 4,000 of them based in Bristol.
Even after
any layoffs, however, “we remain on track to reach the increase in jobs that
are called for” under the First Five agreement reached between ESPN and Gov.
Dannel Malloy, Soltys said.
That 2011 deal
included a $17.5 million loan from the state Department of Economic and
Community Development for the construction of a new 193,000-square-foot
production facility.
The company
vowed to create 200 jobs within five years in Bristol. The development package
has incentives for the company to add up to 600 more jobs over 10 years.
The company
is also on track to open its new production center next spring and to finish
work on two other projects, a new welcome center and a generator facility,
Soltys said.
Soltys said
he couldn’t discuss the number of layoffs.
The author
of a book about ESPN, Jim Miller, said on his Twitter account this afternoon
that the cutbacks will number “between 300 and 400” people, but that “includes
open jobs that won't now be filled.”
“Any
layoff/firing/buyout is rare for Bristol culture. It is not being taken
lightly. By anyone. No gain, just pain,” Miller wrote in another tweet.
ESPN is
owned by Disney, which this month reported that its second quarter profits were
up 32 percent.
Disney said
at the time that much of the profit increases was due to ESPN, which was
bringing in more revenue from affiliates and advertising that more than made up
for “increased programming and production costs.”
The company laid
off some workers at the height of the recession in 2009, but generally has
increased its workforce over the years.
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