ViacomCBS Has Laid Off 450 Employees in New York Since January
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ViacomCBS Inc. has laid off 450 staffers in New York since January, according to a filing with the state.
The newly formed media company let go of 88 employees at Showtime, 27 at CBS Television Stations, 41 at CBS Corp., 16 at CBS Network, 271 at Viacom International, three at Simon & Schuster and four at CBS Interactive.
While many companies that have made similar filings during the pandemic stated that the layoffs were temporary and due to the coronavirus, ViacomCBS did not do so, indicating the cuts are permanent.
Instead, the layoffs are understood to be associated with the Viacom and CBS December merger, which brought together brands including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, Pop, Smithsonian Channel and Showtime as well as CBS itself.
The filing was made at the end of April and includes all layoffs in New York associated with the merger since January. The Wrap reported last month that ViacomCBS president Bob Bakish sent a memo to staff, informing them of the latest round of layoffs, thought to have impacted around 100 workers. Smithsonian Network president Tom Hayden and Comedy Central head of content and creative enterprises Sarah Babineau were among those impacted.
A separate New York state filing showed that Cast & Crew, a payroll company that CBS contracts with, laid of 65 staffers last month, although the filing categorized the move as temporary, citing the reason as “unforeseeable business circumstances prompted by COVID-19.”
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