ESPN is expected to lay off more than 100 staffers at the end of November, multiple sources told Sports Illustrated. The layoffs will affect people in varying positions across ESPN, including on-air television talent, producers, executives, and digital and technology staffers. They are expected to happen after the Thanksgiving holiday.
This is not the first time ESPN has experienced significant layoffs. In Oct. 2015, the company laid off about 300 employees, reports Sports Illustrated, which was about four or five percent of its workforce. Many of the employees laid off at that time had been integral to building ESPN and had dedicated their professional lives to the company. Then, last April, the company cut another 100 journalists and on-air personalities.
ESPN is affected by people who are either dropping their cable subscriptions or never getting one in the first place. There is also a rising cost of sports rights, according to Sports Illustrated, and the network has dropped in households from 100.13 million in 2011 to about 87.5 million households today.
According to two sources who spoke to Sports Illustrated, the reason the layoffs are coming in late November and early December is so that employees get an additional year in the stock vesting program.
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