Major Layoffs Likely At Sony Music, Sony ATV As Bain & Co Hired To Cut $100 Million
Bain & Co have been hired to cut $100 million in operating expenses at Sony Entertainment which includes label group Sony Music and music publisher Sony ATV. Sony has been under pressure from major investor Daniel Loeb of hedge fund Third Point to cut spending and raise profits. Loeb has chided the entertainment division as "famously bloated" with "high salaries for underperforming senior executives."
Earlier this year Loeb advocated for spinning off entertainment from Sony entirely.
Sony has not pubically confirmed the plan, said to unveiled today. "As part of a nearly four-year process of increasing fiscal discipline, Sony Pictures is conducting a review of its business to identify further inefficiencies," was all that a Sony spokesperson would say in a statement to the New York Times. "Our objective is, and always has been, to operate an efficient studio that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on future growth opportunities."
Bain is known for the deep cuts and layoffs its reccomendations have led to at many of the 1300 companies that have hired the firm since its founding in 1973.
I know of one distributor that would love to talk to labels/artists impacted by this and agree there will be a purging.