BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian broadcaster Zee Entertainment will cut 15% of its workforce, it said on Friday, in its latest bid to trim costs.
The company had a total headcount of 4,577 employees, according to its last published annual report. It did not provide the latest headcount number in its statement.
In March, a company-formed review panel mandated that Zee substantially cut costs and reduce losses in its business, including its English TV channels, to meet a key profit target.
Zee has had two major deals fail in recent months – a $10 billion merger with Sony India and a $1.4 billion cricket broadcasting deal with Walt Disney.
Additionally, Zee’s revenue in the December 2023 quarter fell, with its advertising revenues falling 3% year-on-year to 29.48 billion rupees in the nine months ended Dec. 31.
Its cash reserves also fell to 2.48 billion rupees in the six months ended Sept. 30, from 5.88 billion rupees a year earlier.
Earlier this week, Zee Chief Executive Punit Goenka took a 20% pay cut, while the company made cuts in the workforce at its Technology & Innovation Centre in Bengaluru on March 29.
Goenka on Friday also proposed restructuring the company to focus its business on broadcast, digital, movies and music.
Shares of the company, which have fallen over 34% since the deal talks with Sony India fell apart in late January, closed down 0.5% to 152.35 rupees on Friday.
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Dimpal Gulwani; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Janane Venkatraman)
