Premium cabler Starz is reorienting itself in its post-Lionsgate era and making a notable round of layoffs.
The company cut 7 percent of its workforce on Friday in what has been described as a shifting of resources across the Jeffrey Hirsch-led company. In its latest 10-K filing as of last June, Starz had 541 employees, which means the latest round of layoffs is impacting less than 40 staffers.
The company, vulnerable to cord-cutting and a decline in linear TV households, has embarked on an expansion effort pitching itself to Wall Street as a pure-play streaming brand.
Up until ten months ago, it had been housed as part of Lionsgate since the Jon Feltheimer-led studio made a $4.4 billion cash and stock deal in 2016 to acquire Starz with an eye toward growing its own subscription-based business. Lionsgate had doubled down on the Starz brand when it sold its…
