AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT QUIBI

Los Angeles, California-based Quibi, a short-form entertainment service for mobile devices headed by former Disney honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg and former HP CEO Meg Whitman, announced that it is shutting down all operations and attempting to sell the company's intellectual property.

It is unknown how many staffers face layoffs, but many were upset at the large up-front payments to name-talent while they were accepting pay cuts to preserve their jobs.

In spite of the legendary founders, almost $2 billion in venture capital, and a roster of A-list talent, the streaming service failed to attract a viable audience.

According to Whitman, "While we have enough capital to continue operating for a significant period of time, we made the difficult decision to wind down the business, return cash to our shareholders, and say goodbye to our talented colleagues with grace. We continue to believe that there is an attractive market for premium, short-form content. Over the coming months, we will be working hard to find buyers for these valuable assets who can leverage them to their full potential. All that is left now is to offer a profound apology for disappointing you and, ultimately, for letting you down.

Considering the amount of user-generated, high-quality content on Google's YouTube and the streaming products from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon's Prime Video, it is a stunning failure of the company's business plan.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT PARADIGM TALENT AGENCY

Beverly Hills, California-based Paradigm Talent Agency, a full-service entertainment agency, has announced a reduction in force that will impact approximately 30% of its workforce, or approximately 180 employees.

Paradigm's Chairman and CEO Sam Gores noted, “With disappointment and sadness, today we have informed the temporarily laid off employees whom we have not been able to reinstate that they will be transitioned to permanent layoff. As you know, over the last six months, we have brought back as many of our temporarily laid off colleagues as we could; unfortunately, the profound effects of the coronavirus have continued to severely impact every aspect of our industry and our world for longer than we had even imagined six months ago. Consequently, we have had to examine every aspect of our business and make this difficult decision.”

“As these colleagues and friends begin their next chapters, we wish them only the best. As a company, we have enjoyed growth for several decades, so needless to say, this is a difficult day. Our values and our core are strong, and we will continue on a focused path, and we remain committed to improving.”

“I recognize that you and your former colleagues have carried a heavy burden this year, and I am grateful for all of your contributions. We all hope that someday soon, the live and filmed entertainment industry will safely and wholly return. As always, the company and I remain appreciative of your commitment and dedication.”

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT NBCUNIVERSAL (01/12/23)

JANUARY 12, 2023 — 75 TARGETED BY NEW MANAGEMENT

The company has announced that it will be laying off about 75 employees across its NBC News and MSNBC properties. Both properties are being restructured to counter declining viewership as consumers cord-cut and transition to streaming services.

AUGUST 26, 2022 — NBC IS CONSIDERING REDUCING PRIME-TIME TV BY 1-HOUR TO SAVE MONEY

NBC is discussing returning the 10 p.m. prime-tv hour to local stations as a cost-cutting move as interest in broadcast TV viewership declines in favor of streaming options commencing with the fall 2023 season.

A company spokesperson noted, “We are always looking at strategies to ensure that our broadcast business remains as strong as possible. As a company, our advantage lies in our ability to provide audiences with the content they love across broadcast, cable, and streaming.”

NBC parent Comcast is giving priority to building its Peacock streaming service as traditional tv ad revenues decline.

OCTOBER 30, 2020 — LAYOFFS IMMINENT

The company has announced that it will continue its restructuring plans with two phased layoffs that will see up to 300 employees. Phase one is scheduled for the business operations unit in mid-November 2020 and phase two to follow in late December 2020 or early 2021.

MAY 11, 2020 — Original post…

Los Angeles, California-based NBCUniversal, an entertainment division of Comcast appears ready to restructure some of its operations with a goal of cutting costs and reducing headcounts.

According to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell ...

On costs the question about whether we’re right-sized on costs given where the environment is headed, the answer is probably no, and we’re addressing that pretty aggressively. We’re trying to be thoughtful within our business though, and there’s obviously a couple of different kinds of businesses.

One business is there are businesses like the theme park business where the revenue has just shut off and we have to address our costs, but we’re going to come back at some point. There, we have cut a significant amount of our costs and can flex even further down if this goes longer and deeper than we see right now.

And then elsewhere in our business where we’re seeing both short-term and structural declines, I think what we’re trying to do is address our cost base in a way that comes out of this in a different way, that we look like a different company and we can shift our business as we adjust our cost base.

But we’re spending a lot of time on our cost base. And certainly, over the next weeks and months, we’ll make pretty significant adjustments there across our business.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?