Broadcast sports titan ESPN is telling employees that pandemic-related layoffs are coming. Thursday, the company’s president sent workers a memo announcing 300 new job cuts. In addition to the cuts, company president Jimmy Pitaro says that 200 open positions will be eliminated. The memo tells the story of a company trying to navigate sports coverage in the 21st century and how it could change course to do better business. And then the pandemic hit – Pitaro says that “accelerated” those discussions. The president says ESPN tried to head off widespread cuts by asking company execs and talent to take a paycut, while furloughing others, but it wasn’t enough. The company didn’t say anything about who was going, other than “exceptional team members, some who’ve been here for a long time.”
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