Fox News will be laying off a number of employees as part of a company reorganization.
“As Fox News Media has evolved into a streamlined multi-platform organization, we are realigning several functions and restructuring various divisions in order to position all of our businesses for ongoing success,” Fox News said in a statement on Wednesday.
No anchors, reporters, or contributors were laid off in the network’s decision to cut less than 3% of the workforce, and they will all receive a severance package, according to a source familiar with the layoffs.
Suzanne Scott, Fox’s chief executive officer, sent a memo to staffers to address the layoffs. In the memo, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, Scott acknowledges that it’s “a challenging day” and expressed her “sincere gratitude to those employees who will be leaving us.”
The network is realigning some of its departments, resulting in the cuts, which were first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, and it is reminiscent of the company’s decision to create the Media Production Group in 2017 instead of having separate graphics departments for Fox News and Fox Business.
The coronavirus, which was not the driving reason behind many of the network’s recent layoffs, was cited as being responsible for gutting one department: the hair and makeup department. For months, during the height of the pandemic, Fox News had its hosts and anchors recording from their homes, with guests and contributors coming in for television segments remotely, thus making the jobs in that department suddenly less crucial.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch told the company last month that nonproduction employees should expect to continue working remotely until next year.
