The month of November has been a bit bumpy for Univision Communications. First Donald Trump wins the presidency and now the Spanish-language media conglomerate is slated for mass layoffs.
Univision will be dismissing six percent of its workforce and restructuring following a third-quarter net loss of $30.5 million, the company announced Wednesday and The Washington Post first reported.
The layoffs are expected to result in some 200-250 job-losses.
“We operate in a fast changing and dynamic industry and we regularly make adjustments to ensure we are nimble and best positioned to continue investing in Univision’s growth,” the company said in a statement according to Forbes.
“As part of a broader effort to streamline operations, we eliminated a number of positions in various areas of the Company,” the statement added. “Over the next several months, we will be adding new positions to support strategic growth areas that will allow us to be better poised to serve our diverse audiences across platforms and meet the needs of our partners.”
The losses come months after Univision purchased Gawker Media Group, since rebranded as Gizmodo Media Group. According to The Post, Univision’s restructuring will shuffle and realign some of Univision’s media assets, including bringing Fusion and The Root under the Gizmodo Media Group umbrella.
Many of the layoffs, according to The Washington Post, will be at Fusion, where last week the editorial staff voted to unionize. Isaac Lee, Univision’s chief news, entertainment and digital officer, however, told The Post that Univision does not object to the unionizing and that employees who voted to join the union would receive the same severance as other unionized Gizmodo Media Group employees.
Univision and its most recognizable TV news personality Jorge Ramos sparred with Donald Trump throughout the presidential election. Trump memorably kicked Ramos out of a press conference in August. He later allowed the combative reporter back in to ask questions.
On Wednesday, a number of former Fusion employees took to Twitter to announce that they were among the layoffs: