ESPN has begun laying people off following fears the axe was about to swing, with the company also letting go of its second longest-tenured employee.
Mike Soltys, a 43-year veteran at the network, was among those laid off as part of Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger’s plans to slash 7,000 jobs at the company with the aim of saving around $5.5 billion in costs.
Russell Wolff, who was in charge of the ESPN+ service and a company veteran of 26 years, is leaving the company too, per the Wall Street Journal, while senior director of digital audio programming, Peter Gianesini has announced that he’s been let go after a 25-year stint.
Founder of FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver has also announced he expects to leave at the end of his contract, which expires soon.
ESPN was left untouched by the first wave of cuts last month but, according to CNBC, this week’s releases should see fewer than 100 people lose their jobs. Another wave of cuts will take place early in the summer that could possibly impact on-air talent.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The Worldwide Leader in Sports is reported to be keen on evaluating everything from salaries to job performance, with just around 10 staffers considered untouchable. Those include Stephen A. Smith, Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, Mike Greenberg, Scott Van Pelt, Doris Burke, Adam Schefter, Adrian Wojnarowski, and Mina Kimes.
Kimes is still a free agent but is believed to be a company favorite and is in line for a new contract. ESPN also just extended Marcus Spears to a lucrative, new deal. So he shouldn’t be going anywhere either.
Apart from the talent mentioned above, everyone else is in danger of losing their jobs, more so those with expiring contracts or who have less than a year to run on their deals.
