EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate will be reducing 5% of its companywide staff, Deadline has learned.
Approximately 50 staff overall will exit in a move that adds to a previous trim. The earlier layoff constituted 8% of staff, which will mean Lionsgate will have lightened its head count by 13% when this round of bloodletting is done.
The purpose of the headcount reduction is corporate belt-tightening, as all companies in the industry are doing, including the ongoing attrition at Paramount Global after its acquisition by David Ellison’s Skydance. Co
This will be it for Lionsgate, making it more efficient as it positions the company for the future growth, sources said.
Lionsgate chief Jon Feltheimer has just sent an internal memo that Deadline got hold of. Here it is:
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, re-allocate 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,
Jon