ESPN Lays Off Over 150 Employees

RadioOnFire.com - Today, ESPN announced that it would be laying off over 150 employees effective immediately. According to the sports conglomerate, the decision reflects a change in resources Geared toward making the experience more pleasant for the viewer. This is not the first instance where ESPN has been in the news for controversial reasons this year, having garnered a lot of criticism after suspending prominent African-American SportsCenter host Jemelle Hill for comments regarding politics. Despite a seemingly insurmountable hold on the sports realm, ESPN has seen its numbers dip and some of its Fanbase transfer over to the new fox sports who are anchored by Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe

ESPN CEO John Skipper had this to say:

“We appreciate their contributions, and will assist them as much as possible in this difficult moment with severance, a 2017 bonus, the continuation of health benefits and outplacement services. They will also appreciate your support. The majority of the jobs eliminated are in studio production, digital content, and technology and they generally reflect decisions to do less in certain instances and re-direct resources.” ESPN will be providing bonuses and “generous“ severance packages for the employees who were laid off. This follows a trend of media outlets who have laid off workers since the beginning of the year, including complex.