Layoffs forced 283 people out of work [Friday] at Las Vegas Sands Corp. in Las Vegas.
Ron Reese, spokesman for the company, said the affected employees worked in the corporate offices as well as the Venetian and Palazzo resorts on the Strip. He said nearly 7,000 full-time equivalent positions remain in Las Vegas.
Source: Las Vegas Sun
Hundreds of Walt Disney World employees in Florida are being handed pink slips and escorted off the property.
Orlando Business Journal said its broadcast partner, Central Florida News 13, said the layoffs involve from 400 to 800 people, but Disney officials would not confirm the number of people affected. Disney said layoffs are part of the restructuring announced last month.
Source: Pacific Business News
According to LA Times: “Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures has been slashing costs recently, but apparently it hasn’t been enough. The studio is planning to get rid of 300 positions, primarily because of weak DVD sales, the LA Times reported this morning.”
Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA,CMCSK) laid off nearly 3,300 people in the third and fourth quarters of last year because of a reorganization of its cable-television operations, its chief financial officer, Michael Angelakis, said in its earnings conference call Wednesday.
Comcast said last October that it was going to eliminate 300 positions in the eastern division of its cable operations as a result of the reorganization.
Source: Nashville Business Journal
Walt Disney Co says domestic theme parks division to consolidate operations, job cuts expected. Theme parks reorganization effective immediately.
Source: Reuters, CNBC
~News submitted by upthecreek
According to Reuters: “THQ Inc (THQI) posted a quarterly loss as sales of video games fell more than expected, and the company warned results for the current quarter were likely to be “significantly” below what it had previously anticipated.”
The company plans to layoff 600 people (24% of workforce) in fiscal 2010 and cut spending by $220 million.
According to CNBC: “Electronic Arts, based in Redwood City, California, said it would cut 1,100 jobs, or about 11 percent of its workforce, higher than the 1,000 it announced in December. It also plans to close 12 facilities as it narrows its product portfolio.”
~News submitted by upthecreek
According to CNBC: “International Game Technology, the world’s largest maker of slot machines and casino management systems, announced Thursday it will lay off an additional 200 workers as the recession takes a deepening toll on the casino industry.
The layoffs of manufacturing workers — on top of a November cut of 500 jobs — will occur by April, the company said.”
“In all, the Reno-based company said it has trimmed its global work force of about 5,000 by a little more than 10 percent.”
~News submitted by upthecreek
According to Bloomberg: “Time Warner Inc.’s AOL online unit will cut as much as 10 percent of its workforce because the U.S. recession has forced advertisers to reduce spending.
Employees won’t receive merit pay increases in 2009, New York-based AOL said today in a memo to workers. The number of people fired will total 700, said a person familiar with AOL’s plans.”
“The Warner Bros. film and television unit is eliminating or outsourcing 800 positions. Publishing division Time Inc. said in October it would cut 600 jobs, or 6 percent of the workforce.”
According to CNBC: “Revel Entertainment is laying off 400 workers and stopping interior work on the last casino project in Atlantic City that hadn’t fallen victim to the economic crisis and the credit crunch.
The $2 billion, ocean-themed casino is rising at the northern end of the Boardwalk next to the Showboat Casino Hotel.
Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis said Thursday that the company decided the best financial course for the next year to 15 months was to work only on the building’s exterior and pursue long-term financing. The company has about 1,100 employees.”
Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft’s ongoing job cuts.
A large portion of the dev house’s staff has been let go – with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.
Update: Microsoft has confirmed the closure of ACES Studio. Former ACES developer Phil Taylor claims in a blog post that six employees were retained to fulfill contractual duties, and Flight Simulator may continue to exist as a franchise in some other form.
Source: Gamasutra
According to Reuters: “Warner Bros. Entertainment plans to cut 800 jobs, or 10 percent of its worldwide staff, as Hollywood outsources and downsizes under the weight of the current recession.
The job cuts at Warner follow staff reductions at other major media companies. General Electric Co’s NBC Universal and Viacom, owner of Paramount, have already cut jobs.”
According to San Jose Buziness Journal: “The CEO and other top executives at Sling Media Inc. are leaving EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS), which bought the startup a year ago for $380 million,”
“All Things Digital reported that Blake Krikorian, the chief executive, and his brother Jason Krikorian, the senior vice president of business development, are out; two others — Jason Hirschhorn, who runs Sling Media Entertainment unit and Ben White, chief creative officer — will reportedly leave shortly.”
A report says Warner Bros. plans to lay off some studio staffers and outsource jobs to India and Poland to cut costs amid falling entertainment revenues.
Although details of the layoffs at Warner are still to be determined, they are nonetheless expected to affect scores of “back office” workers in management information systems, finance and accounting.
Warner has about 8,000 employees around the world. In 2005, the studio cut about 400 jobs, including about 300 at its lot in Burbank.
Source: LA Times
According to Yahoo News, India: “The world’s top software firm Microsoft has been asked to cut its workforce by 10%, or about 9,100 employees, to tell the market that profits are more important than revenue growth in difficult times.”
“Earlier in October, Microsoft had put in place a hiring freeze on some of its divisions, such as entertainment and devices businesses that make products like X-Box and Zune.”
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