BET is making layoffs across multiple departments amid the broader wave of cutbacks at parent company Paramount Global.
The layoffs were announced by BET CEO Scott Mills in a memo to staff Wednesday, which was obtained by Variety.
“As Paramount’s co-CEOs recently shared, the company is taking further steps to streamline Paramount to ensure it is positioned for continued success,” Mills wrote in the memo. “BET is not immune to the conditions necessitating these actions, so we too must reduce staff within our organization.”
The number of BET staffers getting pink-slipped was not immediately available. The job cuts are part of the 3.5% U.S. workforce reduction that Paramount Global announced June 10, which sources said affected several hundred employees.
According to Mills, BET is implementing a “streamlined organization structure” where BET will continue to operate the functions “that are core to our mission, value proposition and market leadership position.” Those include content strategy and production, programming, marketing and insights, social impact, advertising sales, streaming and digital. BET will “further leverage Paramount’s scaled support functions” in areas including linear TV research, finance, and business and legal affairs, he said.
According to Paramount, BET Media Group is the world’s largest media company dedicated to the Black community and “championing Black culture” spanning cable TV, streaming and digital content, studios, live events and international. Its portfolio includes BET, streaming service BET+, BET Gospel, BET HER, BET International, BET Jams, BET Soul, BET Studios and VH1.
Read the memo from Mills:
Dear Team,
As Paramount’s co-CEOs recently shared, the company is taking further steps to streamline Paramount to ensure it is positioned for continued success. BET is not immune to the conditions necessitating these actions, so we too must reduce staff within our organization.
As a result, today we are implementing a streamlined organization structure where BET will continue to operate the functions that are core to our mission, value proposition and market leadership position, including content strategy and production, programming, marketing and insights, social impact, advertising sales, streaming and digital. At the same time, we will further leverage Paramount’s scaled support functions in areas including linear research, finance, and business and legal affairs.
This is a very difficult moment – the departure of talented team members who have been great collaborators, colleagues and friends; team members who have so meaningfully contributed to BET’s success and who share our passion for BET’s mission and purpose. On behalf of everyone at BET, I thank each of our departing team members for their great work, their sacrifice, and their enduring contributions to BET’s legacy.
To all my BET colleagues, I thank you for your continued commitment to this company, to each other, and to the communities we serve. We are a powerful and resilient brand, a powerful and resilient business, and most importantly, a powerful and resilient team. I remain confident in our collective strength to continue moving BET forward.
Sincerely,
Scott
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