Bloomberg to cut 100 U.S. broadcast jobs

Bloomberg LP will cut 100 television and radio jobs in the first layoffs since it was founded in 1981 by now-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The news and financial data provider will cut the jobs in the United States, 45 of them from its newsroom staff, spokeswoman Judith Czelusniak said, adding that Bloomberg might cut other jobs in Britain, Europe and Japan.

"It is a restructuring really needed in order to make programming changes and a network that really leverages our global bureau system and infrastructure," Czelusniak said.

Multimedia operations, which include broadcast, are overseen by former NBC television executive Andrew Lack. Lack took over last year from Matt Winkler, who founded Bloomberg's news operation and still heads the news group.

The Los Angeles Times reported the job cuts on its website on Tuesday evening. They come shortly after the departure of Bloomberg Television Managing Editor John Meehan.

The cuts include canceling the "Night Talk" TV show with host Mike Schneider.

The New York Post reported on Wednesday that Bloomberg's TV and radio operations both are losing an estimated $20 million a year. Czelusniak declined to comment on that report.

Czelusniak confirmed that Bloomberg generates about $6 billion in annual revenue, a figure cited by the Los Angeles Times.

The company, which competes with Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRIL.L), employs about 10,500 people worldwide, with more than 6,500 in the United States.

It employs more than 2,300 news staff, including 1,500 print reporters and about 850 workers in multimedia. It is adding about 70 print news jobs, Czelusniak said.

Bloomberg has avoided cutting jobs, even at times when other media outlets have.

Like other financial media, Bloomberg is trying to deal with thousands of job cuts at banks and other institutions where it sells its news and data.

Czelusniak said the company plans to hire about 1,000 people this year, but net additions will be lower because of the planned job cuts.

Source : Reuters
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