NBCUniversal to Cut 200 Jobs at DreamWorks -- WSJ
16 September 2016 - 5:03PM
Dow Jones News
By Erich Schwartzel
Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal is eliminating about 200 jobs at
DreamWorks Animation SKG, the animation studio it acquired earlier
this year for $3.8 billion, the company said Thursday.
In a letter to employees, Jeff Shell, chairman of the Universal
Filmed Entertainment Group, said the job cuts were mostly corporate
overhead positions and in the distribution and consumer-products
divisions. Those are "areas where we can fully integrate operations
with NBCUniversal," he wrote.
DreamWorks Animation employed about 2,000 people after its last
round of job cuts, which eliminated 500 jobs in early 2015
following a string of box-office misfires.
The cuts are another indication of how NBCUniversal plans to
integrate DreamWorks Animation into its entertainment fold, which
also includes Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment,
the animation studio behind the "Despicable Me" films.
Last month, NBCUniversal announced a leadership structure at
DreamWorks that kept the "Shrek" studio separate from Illumination,
keeping the heads of DreamWorks' biggest divisions in place. No
role at DreamWorks has been announced for Illumination Chief
Executive Chris Meledandri.
The people whose jobs are being eliminated work at DreamWorks'
main campus in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, Calif. Those
leaving the company will be notified this week and may stay on for
several months, Mr. Shell's letter said.
As part of the acquisition, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg
left the studio to become chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which
oversees NBCUniversal interests in various digital-media
companies.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 16, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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