Layoffs and restructuring at Universal Music Group have begun, multiple sources say Advertising sign.
As part of the new structure, several top executives have been made redundant, Advertising sign can confirm. Promotion President of Interscope Geffen A&M Brenda Romano is among those fired, as well as Interscope's executive vice president/head of media strategy and communications Kara Donato and Def Jam Executive vp of media and brand strategy Gabe Tesoriero.
So far, Advertising sign has confirmed more than two dozen layoffs at UMG labels, including Interscope, Republic, Capitol, Def Jam and Island.
The layoffs began shortly after the conclusion of Universal's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, in which chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge confirmed a long-rumored “strategic organizational redesign” that would result in “reduced headcount” and “efficiencies.” A UMG spokesman declined to say how many employees would be affected by the cuts, but the company told investors it expects to make annual savings of 250 million euros ($271 million) through 2026 through the move. Universal posted revenue of 11.11 billion euros ($12 billion) in 2023 and a net profit of 1.26 billion euros ($1.37 billion).
The layoffs had been underway since last October, when Grainge said UMG would have to “cut to grow” in a third-quarter earnings call, then said in a January New Year memo to staff that despite that UMG is “the most successful company in the history of the music industry”, the company “will further evolve our organizational structure to create efficiencies in other areas of the business so we can remain nimble and respond to the opportunities that arise arise, while also benefiting from our benefits of scale.” A spokesman then confirmed cuts were coming in a statement on January 12, after Bloomberg said the company plans to cut “hundreds” of jobs in the first quarter of the year.
The layoffs continued on Thursday (February 29) and some employees were speculating Advertising sign to continue until Friday. There's no word on how many people were affected, nor details on which departments they were in, although in addition to promotions, publicity and A&R, at least some people in logistics, synch, international and trade marketing were among the layoffs. Staff members from Republic, Interscope, Capitol, Island and Def Jam were among those laid off.
On February 1, Grainge announced in an internal memo that Universal would restructure its label operations, adopting a loose East Coast-West Coast operation where Republic Records co-founder/CEO Monte Lipman will begin overseeing Republic, Def Jam, Island and Mercury and Interscope Geffen A&M president/CEO John Janick will assume responsibility for Interscope, Geffen, Capitol, Motown, Priority, Verve and Blue Note. Days later, president/CEO of Capitol Music Group Michelle Jubelirer announced that she was resigning from her position and was replaced by Geffen's chairman Tom March as president/CEO of Capitol and executive of Universal Music Publishing Group; Lilia Parsa participating as co-chair at the same time Arjun Pulitzer.
As part of the new alignment, and with Donatto and Tesoriero out at Interscope and Def Jam, respectively, it appears Capitol Music Group's executive vice president/head of strategy and media relations Ambrosia Healy will now handle corporate communications for West Coast labels and Republic Records, executive media and artist relations Joe Carroza will oversee corporate communications for the East Coast labels.
UMG representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Additionally, representatives of several individual labels either declined to comment or could not be reached for comment.
This story is evolving.
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