Fox employees offered voluntary redundancy in $250m cutbacks package
Rupert Murdoch owned film and television companies 20th Century Fox and Fox Networks are offering employees a ‘generous’ voluntary redundancy package as part of efforts to trim $250m from its wages bill.
The cutbacks are being targeted to take effect from the 2017 financial year which gets underway in July and will affect all 20,500 full time employees at the business.
In a statement a Fox News spokesperson confirmed: “Some colleagues from Fox Networks Group and 20th Century Fox will be offered a generous benefit package if they opt to voluntarily leave the company.”
News of cuts to the TV unit comes after it has been hurt by declining ratings. In May last year, Fox announced it was cutting American Idol which struggled to hit the 10 million viewer mark - a considerable decline from the 30 million viewers it reeled in during its heyday.
Sources told The Hollywod Reporter the aim of the cuts is to recalibrate structures in the businesses amid revenue challenges, and free up money to put towards growth areas.
It is not known if mandatory redundancies will follow if there is insufficient demand for the redundancy package on offer.