ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro said in a company memo sent to employees that those affected will hear from their supervisor and someone from human relations this week.The battle continues between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney. Jim Clark, a senior lecturer at University of Central Florida joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to break down the latest.
"As we advance as a core segment of Disney, with operational control and financial responsibility, we must further identify ways to be efficient and nimble," Pitaro said in the memo. "We will continue to focus our workforce on initiatives that are most closely aligned with our critical priorities and emphasize decision-making and responsibility deeper into the organization.
ESPN was not part of the first phase of Disney reductions last month. Besides this week’s layoffs, another round of job cuts will take place by the start of summer. Both phases impact off-air employees. A round of cuts involving on-air talent will happen over the summer via contracts not being renewed, buyouts or cuts. It is not expected to resemble what happened in April of 2017, when reporters and hosts were informed at one time.
Among the known job cuts from Monday is vice president of communications Mike Soltys, who has been with the company 43 years.