Lionsgate will implement further redundancies and reduce its company-wide headcount by 5% or approximately 50 people.
The move is expected to happen soon and marks further cost-cutting after staff lay-offs amounting to roughly 8% earlier this year.
Across Hollywood, companies have been cutting costs to meet the challenges of industry shifts. Speaking in July after the Skydance-Paramount merger closed, CEO David Ellison said the transaction would involve $2bn in cost cuts.
In a memo to staff obtained by Screen, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer wrote: ”Though we may continue to fine-tune the organisational structure of individual departments from time to time, today’s headcount reduction will substantially complete our year-long process of repositioning the company for growth.”
In May, it was announced that Lionsgate and Starz had completed their separation and would operate as two stand-alone, publicly traded companies.
Lionsgate did not respond for a comment or to elaborate on details. Feltheimer’s memo appears below.
Dear Colleagues:
We continue to operate in an industry environment characterized by unprecedented change and disruption, and we are continuing to adapt our organization to these changes in order to compete successfully. As part of this process, we separated Lionsgate and STARZ into independent standalone companies earlier this year, and we are continuing to monetize non-core assets, reallocate our resources to growth areas of the business and reduce costs.
We have already reduced our studio headcount by approximately 8% this year and today we are notifying an additional 5% of our employees that their positions will soon be eliminated. These are difficult decisions impacting colleagues with whom we have collaborated for years and who have made valuable contributions to Lionsgate’s success, and we will make their transitions as smooth as possible. Our Human Resources team will follow up with additional information later this morning. Though we may continue to fine-tune the organizational structure of individual departments from time to time, today’s headcount reduction will substantially complete our year-long process of repositioning the company for growth.
Our core strengths remain intact: one of the largest and most valuable film & television libraries in the world, a portfolio of premium franchises, deep content pipelines and a talented and entrepreneurial workforce second to none. Working together, I am confident that we will continue to position ourselves for solid and significant growth in the years ahead.
Sincerely,