Sony Pictures Entertainment began notifying employees Tuesday of layoffs that will affect 3.5% of its work force worldwide.
About 250 positions are being cut, with roughly 150 in the U.S. Of those, about 120 are in the Los Angeles area.
Additionally, another 100 jobs that are considered open will not be filled. Overall, the reductions amount to 5% of the Sony work force.
In a companywide e-mail issued Tuesday afternoon by SPE chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and co-chairman Amy Pascal, the pair said that despite such cost-saving efforts as reductions in overtime, travel and executive benefits, the economic downtown made reducing the work force necessary.
“Today, our studio remains profitable,” the executives wrote, “but over the past five months, the deepening global financial crisis has begun to impact some of our lines of business, such as television syndication, DVDs and advertising sales. The economic effects have, regretfully, made it necessary to take the step we had hoped to avoid, and worked hard to minimize: reducing our head count to ensure the stability and success of our business going forward.” (partialdiff)
