According to The Wall Street Journal, Univision, which has been owned by private-equity firms since its massive leveraged buyout a decade ago, hired Boston Consulting Group to review the company’s business. As part of the firm’s preliminary recommendations, BCG proposed cutting the budget of Fusion Media Group by as much as 35%, according to people familiar with the matter.
The cuts threaten to significantly reduce staffing at Fusion Media Group, which includes Gizmodo Media Group, comprised of the Root and most of the websites formerly owned by Gawker Media; a stake in the Onion; and the cable channel Fusion, the people said.
An initial wave of job cuts have already started to filter through Fusion Media Group as the division is integrated with the parent company’s other digital operations, some of the people said. In the past week, Univision laid off Felipe Holguin, the president and chief executive at Fusion Media Group, and Daniel Eilemberg, the president and chief content officer for the Fusion cable network. Budget cuts have also been recommended for the Univision digital assets outside of Fusion.
It’s expected that a significant amount of the savings will come from streamlining of operations at the Fusion cable channel and from the changes implemented recently, according to a person familiar with the process.
Fusion Media Group has more than 600 employees with an annual budget of about $150 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The division was near break-even last year.
“This is cutting into muscle,” one of the people said. “These are not operations that are running with a lot of overhead.”
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