Viacom lays off 7 percent of workforce

Update at 7:59 a.m. PST: A RealNetworks representative quashes a rumor about a RealNetworks-MTV joint venture.

The long-expected layoffs at Viacom, parent company of MTV Networks, have finally taken place.

According to an internal memo (first leaked to gossip blog Gawker), 850 positions have been cut. That amounts to 7 percent of the company's workforce.

"Our advantages and best efforts can't completely protect Viacom from the very serious and broad-based challenges of this economic recession," CEO Philippe Dauman wrote in the e-mail. "Viacom's long-term health will depend on our shared commitment to adapt, to innovate and to make difficult choices. To compete and thrive, we need to create an organization and a cost structure that are in step with the evolving economic environment."

A press release Thursday from Viacom gave a more detailed explanation: "The restructuring and write-down together will result in a pre-tax charge of $400 million to $450 million, or $0.42 to $0.48 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. These staffing and compensation actions and write-downs are expected to result in pre-tax savings of $200 million to $250 million in 2009."

It's been common knowledge that Viacom layoffs were on the way, and the company had already canceled its big holiday parties this year, giving employees two extra vacation days in exchange.

In addition to MTV, Viacom owns BET Networks and Paramount Pictures. Its cable channels include Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, and Noggin.

According to a separate post on Gawker, the New York office for MTV-RealNetworks joint venture Rhapsody America is rumored to have closed, leaving 25 people jobless. RealNetworks spokesman Ryan Luckin said in an e-mail to me on Thursday that the rumor is false.

[MSSlayer]

How many executives lost their job or were forced to take a pay cut?

[UITD]

Sadly, we will continue to see this BS go on and on and on until a company with a CEO that isnt a coward, nor hypocrite, stand up and say that he will slash his salary and the salaries of the top 15% of his executive staff in order to sustain the business. Along with that, slashing your product prices, acting like it IS a recession, instead of keeping prices the same as is the case with so many these days - even though we have this "apparent economic collapse". Show me the prices to reflect this, dont just do the same old BS and lay off people right before the holidays - as is so typical and so old now.

And, oh yea, bring back the US jobs and you will see and immediate improvement in the economy. Doesnt take a rocket scientist to know that this outsourcing BS has destroyed America.

But.......nothing will change. We'll go through the same old song and dance. Media says we're in a decline, robot CEOs lay off people and continue to pad their wallets.

We see right through the BS, you know.

[thelemurking]

Hopefully they will start with their overpriced lawyers... cut all the executive pensions and bonuses. It's complete BS that they would layoff employees when CEOs get these big ass bonuses and they still pay these lawyers ungodly amounts of money to scour the web with takedown notices. How about they rethink their business, cut off some of the beef at the top and they may not need to ax jobs at the bottom.

Any executive that has to make job cuts should be forced by law to cut the salaries at the top before cutting jobs at the bottom. It's obvious that the execs aren't doing a good enough job if they have to start doing layoffs... therefor, they aren't deserving of the millions of dollars and all the perks, bonuses etc.