Comcast Begins Laying Off “A Very Small Portion” Of Its Workforce

The deluge of layoffs could only be just beginning…

In what we see as a trend not stopping anytime soon, Comcast has now joined the ranks of massive major U.S. corporations announcing layoffs. 

The sprawling telecom giant “terminated an unspecified number of employees” last week, according to a report by Fierce Telecom. In a comment to the report, Comcast said it had laid off a “very small portion of its workforce”. 

The layoffs were made in “Comcast Cable’s field organization across a range of different markets” and were focused on in-house and back office positions, the report says. Comcast had hinted on its Q3 2022 earnings call that layoffs could be in the offing. 

The report says that Comcast was “working with impacted employees to either help them find other positions within the company or provide outplacement and severance pay.”

The layoffs come after the company’s NBCUniversal business cut 37 employees in September and 45 employees in October due to programming restructuring. 

Comcast President and CFO Mike Cavanagh had said during the company’s recent earnings call: “As we enter the fourth quarter and look to our year ahead, we remain focused on driving long-term growth during an increasingly challenged economic environment.”

He continued: “As a result, we expect we’ll be taking severance and other cost reduction-related charges in the fourth quarter in anticipation of expense reduction actions that will provide benefits in 2023 and beyond.”

The company guided for a loss of broadband subscribers in Q4, namely due to damage from Hurricane Ian in Florida. 

Comcast joins names industry names like Verizon, Zayo and Cox Communications – as well as other major U.S. companies like Wells Fargo and, most recently, Meta – in announcing layoffs. As we said last week – given the letters from various high-ranking Democratic Party officials – we know who the scapegoat for these job losses will be.