Nickelodeon Hit with Layoffs as Viacom Undergoes Restructuring

No studio around today seems to have gotten through without its fair share of hard times. Said hard times have now hit Nickelodeon.

Deadline reported that Nickelodeon will be hit with a round of job cuts as Viacom enacts a comapny-wide restructuring. While the numbers for Nickelodeon and its sibling divisions haven’t been specified, the report noted that 20 to 40 ‘rank and file’ employees across all divisions of Viacom will be given the pink slip.

“As announced, we are in the process of restructuring, and there will be employees leaving the company as a result,” a Nickelodeon spokesperson said Wednesday. “We are so grateful for the contributions they have made to Viacom.”

Reportedly the restructuring was in part due to a number of factors (decreased output, a shake-up in high positions, etc), all of them eventually snowballing into a situation that led to the higher-ups re-examining Viacom’s current position.

It’s also possible that the cuts may have effected Paramount Animation, which would be unfortunate given that they just came out the gate with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which now sits at $259 million worldwide. This also comes as Monster Trucks, their second film and their second live-action/CG hybrid film, is now in post-production for a Christmas Day release.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told investors that the cuts and changes will be done largely by the end of the month and described 2015 as “a transitional year.” (Not too dissimilar to DreamWorks Animation’s current plans).

The changes also include development on more original shows for their networks (Nick included).

What do you think? Are you surprised by the news? What can Nickelodeon do to weather the storm?

Edited by: Kelly Conley