Impact of COVID 19 pandemic leads to layoffs at Sinclair

 

I reached out to Sinclair for comment and any impact on KAEF and KRCR. I have been in communication with various people at Sinclair and waiting to hear from the company.

So far, it seems KATU in Oregon and KSNV in Nevada station have let staff go.

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced today that the company plans to cut almost 600 jobs which positions at its Baltimore headquarters. The layoffs represent 5% of Sinclair’s workforce. Sinclair employs 9,211 people plus 2,219 part-time freelancers. 

Employees were notified of the layoffs in an evening memo sent from Chris Ripley, the company's president and chief executive officer.

"This decision was not made lightly," wrote Ripley. "Over the last year, we saw many of our peers make reductions en masse, a step we refrained from taking while we took cuts elsewhere, including in capital budgets, discretionary spending, and non-essential expenses."

In a statement, Sinclair said, "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt across all sectors of the economy, something that can have a profound impact on a company as diversified as ours. From local businesses and advertisers to distributors and partners, no component of our business’s ecosystem has been fully shielded from the impact of the global pandemic. In response to this, we are currently undergoing enterprise-wide reductions across our workforce, including corporate headquarters, to ensure we are well-positioned for future success. These reductions represent approximately five percent of our workforce."