WWE Announces Major Layoffs

At their last investor's conference, the company announced that they would be reducing costs by $20 million. Since then, quite a few wrestlers were released and the television taping schedule was changed to reduce costs. Now, the cost cutting has affected the office workers of the WWE.

As part of their cost cutting measures, the WWE sent out a press release yesterday announcing that they would be reducing staff by 10%. The press release touts that the company will be saving $8 million annually and will incur a one-time restructuring charge of $3 million this quarter. According to The Hartford Courant, this will result in the loss of 60 jobs. Employees began receiving their termination letters yesterday. Some of the job losses will also come through attrition.

As we all know, wrestlers aren't considered employees by the company, they are independent contractors. In addition to the employees released by the company, several wrestlers and officials lost their jobs yesterday. The WWE officially announced the release of Val Venis, D-Lo Brown, and Bam Neely on their site yesterday. In addition, several referees and stars in developmental were let go. Most notable among these names are Tim White and Kevin Thorn.

In a personal side note, I have had the pleasure of dealing with many people at Titan Towers over the past few years. I don't know who among them is still with the company. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to any of them that aren't with the company any longer and to thank them for all their help.

_{Photo: Mark Mainz/Getty Images}