Thread regarding ViacomCBS layoffs

Anyone who's worked at CBS for any length of time knows the environment is dysfunctional. It's actually something you can depend on. Instead of significant change/progress, look for an uninspired continuation of the current business model, mediocre engineering of such and following everyone else in broadcasting to the intellectual trough for ideas on how to best peddle their content. The hefes with bloated salaries and golden parachutes are space fillers who serve to give the underlings the golden shower. Continued employment is usually guaranteed by management incompetence. As previously noted, it's dependable.

Shari seems to be a misogynist based on this report.
About 8 prominent femmes let go. 3 birth-male hires.
Red stones?

Where are Bakish & Redstone?

Yep, maybe they'll broach the subject, but they'll blow it off. Then the employees will ask d-mb questions that are a complete waste of time. And, of course, kiss more a-s, praise them, get fu---d again by the same people, thank them for it, repeat. People already have no clue what you are referring too re Khemlani and doubt they'll look it up. Even if they do, nothing to see here. No problem. SMH

The people who might be able to get some good questions in we should assume would be those ready to be fired. Does that ever happen though?

Uh, yeah - speaking of sheep, who is going to bring the Khemlani issue up at the next Bob Live...

Yes, the sheeps are plentiful. That's why. Nothing will fundamentally change.

Makes you wonder why people kiss the "cheeks" of these people in Bob Lives. Praise them while they fu-k you and your colleagues/friends. Over and over and over again. That's how you can tell people are easily manipulated by words and don't care about facts or factual evidence to the contrary of what is being said.

CBS News has hired a consulting firm to draw up plans for a corporate slimdown where an executive is the brother of the network’s cost-slashing co-president, The Post has learned.

As previously reported by The Post, Neeraj Khemlani joined CBS as co-president in May and quickly signaled he planned to cut expenses across the third-place news network, which is owned by media giant ViacomCBS. Almost immediately after Khemlani took the reins, executives from the firm FTI Consulting were brought in, employees told The Post.

FTI doesn’t appear to have significant experience in media and broadcast consulting, but it got the plum job.

“A month or two after Neeraj started, we got emails,” a CBS employee said. The source added that upward of 100 consultants were soon organizing Zoom meetings across CBS’s broadcast, digital and local news divisions and asking for presentations on their departments.

“They were looking for ways to create efficiencies in the news organization,” the source said, adding that it ultimately translated to layoffs and consolidation for many.

Sources inside CBS told The Post they were questioning the hire of FTI because it is not known for media consulting like rivals McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group. According to its website, FTI hasn’t had any major TV clients recently outside of CBS.

FTI’s top media consultant Luke Schaeffer, who has worked on the CBS account, boasts of non-TV clients like the digital publication Refinery29 when it merged with Vice Media, or radio giant Entercom when it merged with CBS Radio.

A source close to CBS said that Khemlani’s brother, Sanjeev, senior managing director at FTI who specializes in restructuring, did not work on the CBS account.

Large companies like CBS typically have an approval process for outside contractors that includes conflict disclosures, as well as an internal department that runs a bidding process for the best pitch, said Douglas Chia, president of Soundboard Governance.

CBS did not comment on whether Khemlani disclosed to CBS that the Washington, DC-based FTI employed his brother, or if there was a formal bidding process.

Sources previously told The Post that Khemlani, a former Hearst exec and “60 Minutes” producer, has been “cutting CBS to the bone,” slimming down the company’s digital newsroom and opting to use some local news reporting in broadcast news reports.

Khemlani and his co-president Wendy McMahon replaced legendary newshound Susan Zirinsky, who had succeeded David Rhodes as CBS News president following a turbulent period marred by se-ual misconduct allegations that ousted CBS CEO Les Moonves, “60 Minutes” boss Jeff Fager and others.

Now, sources told The Post that Khemlani is looking to cut the salary of “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell, who currently makes in the ballpark of $8 million.

Under his tenure, CBS has let go of a slew of senior execs, including senior vice president of human resources Jose Andino; executive vice president and general manager of CBS News Digital Christy Tanner; CBS News creative director Renee Cullen; and senior vice president of CBS News Digital Susanne Mei.

Other recent casualties include investigative reporter Mireya Villarreal; CBS News former standards and foreign editor Tony Cavin; CBS News executive producer of Special Events Eva Nordstrom; and senior executive producer for streaming service CBSN Darius Walker.

The network has also made new hires and promotions, such as Robert Costa, as chief election and campaign correspondent; Anthony Galloway, as senior vice president of CBS News Streaming; and Scott Macfarlane, as congressional correspondent.

Some believe CBS CEO George Cheeks tapped Khemlani at the behest of ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish and chair Shari Redstone to chop overhead at CBS and merge it with Comcast, which already has a news division. Others say that the steep cuts are related to Viacom’s 2019 merger with CBS, which promised cost synergies of $300 million in 2020 and a three-year target of $800 million.