Sony’s downsizing is continuing, and its distribution office in Dallas is the latest casualty.
Around 15 people will get pink slips and operations will be shut down there as of June 2, an individual with knowledge of the situation said Sunday, and roughly 10 workers in Sony’s distribution office in Los Angeles also will be let go. Sony declined to comment.
The news comes on the heels of last week’s elimination of its interactive media team, which included 70- employees, and a state filing in which Sony said it would lay off 216 employees at the studio’s Culver City headquarters. Those cuts, which began last week and will continue through June, include employees at divisions throughout the film and entertainment studio, a unit of Sony Corp.
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The pink slips come as SPE is undergoing an extensive period of belt-tightening. The new economizing was prompted by a public battle with activist investor Dan Loeb last summer, during which the activist investor — and one of Sony’s largest shareholders — tried to pressure the company to spin off its entertainment division. He used a series of film flops such as “White House Down” and “After Earth” to press his case.
Though Sony’s board rejected some of Loeb’s proposals, chief executive Kazuo Hirai and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton acknowledged a need to overhaul its greenlighting process.
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Sony has been working with Bain & Co. consultants to streamline entertainment operations spanning a film studio, TV studio and music label — among other divisions. TheWrap reported last November that Sony wanted to cut $100 million, and the studio laid off a few dozen employees while shuttering its technologies group earlier this year. Sony’s parent company has also been grappling with losses on its electronics side resulting in the planted elimination of 5,000 jobs globally.
Sony Pictures has also pushed out several top executives, including marketing boss Marc Weinstock and home entertainment head David Bishop, in the past year as it overhauls studio operations.