Turner Broadcasting is laying off 1,475 full-time employees, a 10 percent reduction in staff.
The job cuts will come from all levels across the company’s news, entertainment, kids, young adult and sports networks and business, as well as corporate functions, the company said in a press release on Monday. Severance pay will be offered, the company stated.
Employees from 18 Turner locations globally will learn their fate over the next two weeks. Atlanta will remain the company’s largest employee base, with more than 5,500 full-time employees.
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The move comes as no surprise. As TheWrap first reported in August, a large number of buyouts had been offered to Time Warner’s Turner — including several hundred at cable news properties CNN and HLN. The company’s “Voluntary Separation Program” was an attempt to reduce or eliminate the need for this job elimination.
At the time, Turner Broadcasting System CEO John Martin revealed in an internal memo that corporate restructuring was coming in the next two months. The same day, on an internal conference call, CNN chief Jeff Zucker told his colleagues, “We are going to do less and have to do it with less.”
Also read: Read Turner’s Internal Memo to Its Staff About Buyouts
The decisions fall under the umbrella of Martin’s ongoing “Turner 2020” initiative, which seeks to maximize performance and trim fat by assessing each part of the company and making changes to reduce spending and increase profitability.
Turner’s cable presence also include TBS, TNT, Adult Swim and truTV.