ESPN is cutting another 500 jobs as pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic are weighing on the sports network. Apparently, the restart of almost all major sports – albeit draped in political messaging for the last 6 months – hasn’t been enough to save the network from a fresh round of layoffs.
The network is blaming the coronavirus, naturally, because it certainly can’t blame its own politicized discussions during almost every major sporting event it has broadcast over the last few months.
A memo circulated on Thursday from Jimmy Pitaro, the head of ESPN, said the cuts will include 300 layoffs and the elimination of another 200 open positions. The company has 5,000 employees worldwide, according to the LA Times.
The memo said: “Prior to the pandemic, we had been deeply engaged in strategizing how best to position ESPN for future success amidst tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports. The pandemic’s significant impact on our business clearly accelerated those forward-looking discussions.”
Since the leagues have decided to “get woke”, embracing the political “Black Lives Matter” messaging before coming back on the air, they have seen their ratings plunge.
The cuts come right after ESPN’s parent company, Disney, also announced a sweeping round of more than 25,000 job cuts days ago. Recall, back in early October we reported that the network was planning “sweeping layoffs”. We noted then that the network was trying to cut “tens of millions” in salary.
Days prior to that, we pointed out that amidst a ratings plunge, the NBA is likely going to be pulling its BLM messaging from its courts and jerseys next season.
Here is the full text of the memo that went out to ESPN employees, per CNBC: …
(Excerpt) Read more at:
