NBC News has reportedly laid off over 100 employees as its parent company, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal News Group, splits NBC News from MSNBC and CNBC, according to multiple reports.
The New York Times reported that as NBC News laid off 150 people, representing seven percent of its staff, “two people familiar with the matter” told the outlet that “no anchors will be affected by the cuts.”
The cut, which will affect nearly every part of the organization, precede a much-anticipate split that will separate many of Comcast’s cable channels — MSNBC, CNBC an USA Network — from the rest of its businesses, including NBC News.
No anchors will be affected by the cuts, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The two sources also added that employees affected by the layoffs “are getting 60 days’ notice,” and will also get “severance and a subsidized benefits package.”
Axios reported that in a memo addressed to employees, Cesar Conde, who serves as the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, explained that they needed to make “necessary cost-cutting decisions.”
“Since we are no longer providing newsgathering operations for two news networks going to Versant, and given the current economic climate affecting the media industry, we’ve had to make some difficult but necessary cost-cutting decisions,” Conde explained.
Among the employees who were laid off were people who had been on teams “dedicated to covering issues affecting Black, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ+ groups,” two sources told The Wrap.
One source clarified that the cuts “did not target specific teams.”
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