It is being reported that ESPN, the most profitable unit at The Walt Disney Company, is cutting 300 to 400 jobs and closing an office in Denver.
These cuts are not thought to be related to similar personnel cuts at Disney that resulted in about 150 layoffs in April. In the most recent fiscal report from Disney, ESPN accounted for 54.7 percent of all operating income.
A statement from ESPN about the cuts said only that “we are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs.”
ESPN recently announced the creation of a new channel that is focused on the U.S. Southeastern Conference (SEC) college football and will carry 45 games beginning in 2014. The network has also announced it would pay for the rights to exclusive coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis tournament, a move that reportedly will cost $825 million.
Aside from the network’s statement, no other information about the layoffs was available.
