Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment is laying off about 216
employees in California, it said in a regulatory filing.
The job cuts are part of a previously announced effort by the
studio, based in Culver City, Calif., to find $350 million in
annual savings. Before the layoffs, Sony Pictures had about 6,500
employees world-wide.
The California layoffs represent the bulk of those planned under
the cost-cutting exercise, said a person with knowledge of the
plans.
The job cuts were disclosed in a notice sent to the California
Employment Development Department as part of Sony's requirements
under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The layoffs included the elimination of Sony's interactive
marketing division, where nearly half the cuts hit.
Explaining the need for the cost savings in November, Sony
Pictures Chief Executive Michael Lynton cited the studio's shifting
investment from movies to television, along with a brutal summer
that included two high profile flops and activist shareholder
Daniel Loeb criticizing the studio for overspending.
Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com
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