Bloomberg Media canceled its Washington-based talk show “Political Capital With Al Hunt” and laid off about 25 employees, mostly in its television operations, as part of a broader effort to restructure the company and its news offerings, according to two staff members with knowledge of the moves.
The
layoffs on Thursday focused on the company’s staff in Washington as a
new politics TV show and website, run by the journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin,
take shape in New York. Some political and finance reporters were
dismissed and the company will move some European television production
jobs to London. It will also close its small television bureau in Los
Angeles and focus its resources on San Francisco.
“Our
TV operation — in the U.S. and around the world — is growing in size,”
said Amanda Cowie, a spokeswoman for the company, who spoke in general
terms about the restructuring moves without discussing specific layoffs.
“We are changing how, and where, the TV operation is run.”
The changes, Ms. Cowie said, are “part of the overall new structure being put into place.”
Bloomberg
has been hiring freely in recent months, as Justin B. Smith, the new
chief executive of its media group, seeks to revamp the company by
starting a series of topic-specific websites and TV shows. Along with
Mr. Heilemann and Mr. Halperin, he has hired Joshua Topolsky,
a founder of The Verge, to oversee online ventures, and the executive
editor of New York magazine, John Homans, for the politics site.
Among
those laid off were Ellen Uchimiya, the Washington bureau chief for
Bloomberg Television, who joined the company in 2010. Some reporters
were called in early to be given the news of the layoffs, a former staff
member said.
Those
who have been laid off will be allowed to reapply for new jobs within
the new structure, said one of the people with knowledge of the matter.
Mr. Hunt, a former executive Washington editor for The Wall Street
Journal, will remain with the company, where he spends much of his time
writing for Bloomberg View.
