Entertainment company Paramount Skydance on Saturday said that it will begin mass layoffs the week of October 27, eliminating around 2,000 U.S. jobs. The layoffs come as a part of a $2 billion cost-cutting plan under its new CEO, David Ellison, Variety reported on Saturday, citing company sources.
“Major job cuts have been expected even before the Skydance Media-Paramount Global deal closed, as part of Ellison and his team’s goal of slashing upwards of $2 billion in costs,” the report read.
Paramount Skydance Corporation, which is a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in America, had previously been targeting layoffs by early November. The new round of cuts is expected to eliminate around 2,000 jobs in the US, with additional layoffs internationally.
The report comes a week after US vice president JD Vance warned that as the federal shutdown entered its 12th day, the new cuts would be “painful”, as he spoke to Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Also read | JD Vance warns of painful federal cuts as US govt shutdown enters Day 12
“To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that we’re looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty difficult set of cards,” Vance said.
{{/usCountry}}“To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that we’re looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty difficult set of cards,” Vance said.
{{/usCountry}}While Trump administration worked to ensure that the military is paid this week and some services would be preserved for low-income Americans, including food assistance, the office of management and budget said well over 4,000 federal employees across departments of Education, Treasury, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, would soon be fired in conjunction with the shutdown, reported news agency AP.
US government went on a shutdown on October 1 after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
The expiration of those subsidies at the end of the year will result in monthly cost increases for millions.
Trump and Republican leaders have said they are open to negotiations on the health subsidies, but insist the government must reopen first.