IMG laying off over 200 across company
By
LIZ MULLEN Staff writer
Published December 07, 2009 : Page 03
IMG has laid off more than 200 employees worldwide in the last few weeks, a reduction of more than 5 percent of its work force, in an effort to pare costs and position the company for growth.
The job cuts have been made in virtually every division of the sports, media and entertainment company in every region of the world. The affected employees have been notified individually in the last three weeks, according to multiple sources, and some may still be getting notice in the next few weeks.
Sources said the total number of layoffs at IMG, which had employed about 3,100 worldwide before the job cuts, were in the range of 200 to 300 people. One source said the layoffs represented about 7 percent of the company’s work force. IMG has 60 offices in 30 countries.
“We have taken out 4 percent of the costs of running the company,” said IMG spokesman Jim Gallagher. “A very small percentage of our total global work force is affected by this program.”
Gallagher wouldn’t provide a specific number of layoffs or respond to questions about how many people were laid off in individual IMG divisions, such as golf, tennis and media. But he said IMG had not closed any offices.
“As any smart company does from time to time, we are examining costs, trimming where necessary and exiting a few non-strategic businesses,” Gallagher said.
In late November, IMG sold television production companies Tiger Aspect, Darlow Smithson and Tigress to Dutch production company Endemol. Chris Davis, IMG executive vice president and chief financial officer, was quoted as saying those companies were not synergistic with IMG’s core business. Additionally, IMG shuttered Web site TennisWeek.com last week.
“This is not a program of layoffs,” Gallagher said. “This is a program of strategically reallocating and redeploying resources to long-term growth opportunities.”
IMG has identified and is currently working on several high-growth opportunities in emerging markets such as India and Brazil , Gallagher said. Last year, IMG announced a 20-year exclusive deal with China state broadcaster CCTV to develop and promote new sporting events and programming across China .
“IMG was doing well before these actions and will be doing even better following them,” Gallagher said.
News of the layoffs has been trickling through different segments of the sports industry in the last several weeks. SportsBusiness Daily reported in mid-November that IMG laid off Steve Kerepesi, the senior vice president of business development and the No. 2 executive in the business development group, as well as two others in that group.
But sources said that many of the people who have been laid off are not high-profile executives, but lower-level employees.
IMG sources said roughly half a dozen non-executive staffers were laid off in the golf division, primarily on the event management side of the business, though the exact number was uncertain because no internal announcements were made. Most of the cuts were believed to be outside the Cleveland headquarters, said sources working in that office, at disbanded IMG events.
In the last year, IMG canceled two LPGA events, as well as the men’s Skins Game and the Father/Son Challenge.
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