Sony to Cut 450 Jobs

Sony Pictures Entertainment employees are going to wish it to still be 2009. The media giant has announced the first 2010 studio layoffs, cutting 450 jobs, The Hollywood Reporter says. This number is 7% of the studio’s 6,800 employees.

It is reported more than half of the layoffs are striking the home-entertainment division and IT staff due to decreases in DVD sales and a transforming industry. The move will mainly target domestic positions.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony bosses Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal released a video message to employees. The site received a partial transcript of the message:

"Amy and I have spent a lot of time thinking and talking and worrying about the impact that this has on people," Lynton said. "We understand that they're very, very difficult. We also, though, have to look to the future and make sure that the people who we do work with every day have a very good work environment and that the environment that we've created collectively, as a studio together, is the best possible one moving forward."

"Our industry is affected by two things: It's affected by the economy, of course, and it's affected by technology. Over the last two years, it's changed people's DVD-buying habits, which has had a huge effect on our company and the industry at large," Pascal said.

Those being cut will be informed by early March.