NBCUniversal to Lay Off 200 Staffers at DreamWorks Animation Campus

In the wake of Comcast’s acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, NBCUniversal on Thursday said that it is eliminating 200 positions at the animation unit’s Glendale campus.

In a memo to the DWA staff, Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, said that in the course of integrating DWA into Universal’s operations, it will cut back jobs that are mostly focused in the corporate overhead ranks, distribution and consumer products.

Those who are subject to the layoffs are to be notified this week.

Shell said that NBCUniversal’s goal is to be “a leader in premium animation content across all platforms” but that it is eliminating positions “where we can fully integrate operations with NBCUniversal.”

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Shell’s full memo is below.

Dear Colleagues:

As we move along in the process of integrating our companies, the leadership team will continually evaluate the needs of our business to ensure we are best positioned to meet our goal of being a leader in premium animation content across all platforms. As indicated on Day One, we remain committed to transparency and, over the next few months, will communicate about any changes expected as a part of the integration with NBCUniversal.

To that end, today we have begun sharing organizational decisions that will result in the elimination of approximately 200 positions at our Glendale campus. These changes are focused in the corporate overhead groups as well as distribution and consumer products, areas where we can fully integrate operations with NBCUniversal.

Those who will be impacted by these decisions will be notified this week and many will be working with us over the next several months as a part of the transition. These are difficult but necessary moves as we work to integrate our organizations and we will be as generous as possible to those who will be leaving the company.

We know you will join us in supporting your colleagues during this time of transition and we too will be exploring other opportunities for them and providing career placement counseling to help minimize the impact.

Looking forward, we are excited about the incredible opportunities ahead for our combined organization and we will work together to make them a reality.

Thanks for your continued hard work,

Jeff Shell