CBS News hit with layoffs amid coronavirus, Viacom consolidation

ViacomCBS has laid off hundreds of employees amid falling advertising revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing consolidation between Viacom and CBS.

Between 300 and 400 employees at ViacomCBS will be affected by the cuts, according to the Los Angeles Times, with many of the layoffs at CBS divisions including news, entertainment, sports and local TV stations. The cuts will take place immediately.

“We are restructuring various operations at CBS as part our ongoing integration with Viacom, and to adapt to changes in our business, including those related to COVID-19,” CBS said in a Wednesday statement. “Our thoughts today are with our departing colleagues for their friendship, service and many important contributions to CBS.”

The $30 billion merger between CBS and Viacom was closed in December.

The two companies had previously been one entity before splitting in 2006.

CBS News president Susan Zirinsky said in a memo that the reductions are “particularly painful” for the entire organization.

“Working with reduced budgets, we have had to make some extremely difficult decisions,” Zirinsky, who has led the news division since January 2019, said in a memo to employees. “I’m sad to report today that some of our colleagues and good friends will be leaving the company. These decisions are particularly painful for our entire organization, which has performed at the highest level during the COVID-19 pandemic, overcoming so many obstacles. But this restructuring is necessary to ensure CBS News remains strong long into the future.”

Many media companies have furloughed employees, enacted pay cuts and/or conducted layoffs since the pandemic shut down most of the country starting in mid-March.