Seems the credit crunch is spreading its reach into all sectors, if latest announcements are to be believed: CBS, who purchased CNET earlier this year for $1.8billion, have announced a downscaling that includes layoffs at CNET and Gamespot.
This from Valleywag:
"CBS is laying people off at CNET - no surprise, since the entire media business is fitfully contracting, and after a merger, cuts are a given. But it signals the end of CNET's grandiose ambitions.
Minor left not long after the bubble popped. When CBS bought CNET this spring, the price was $1.8 billion. (CBS CEO Les Moonves recently said that while he "loves the deal," he wouldn't buy CNET again today at that same price.) CNET executives got roles within CBS Interactive, the new division formed by combining CBS's websites with CNET's - but there was no question who was in charge.
That's become clearer now, with the layoffs. The newsrooms for CBSNews.com and CNET News are said to be combining; CBS is trimming back TV.com, MP3.com, and GameSpot, CNET's entertainment properties. Which makes sense: Why run mainstream news and entertainment coverage out of a backwater like San Francisco, when it can be done properly from New York and L.A.? There's logic to the move, but also a certain sadness, knowing that a fantasy of transforming the media business - a business in much need of transformation - has faded for good."
Sad news indeed. Mind, whilst it's sad about anyone undergoing the stress of layoffs or redundancy, there is so much happening right now that it is easy to brush a lot of it aside - sympathy fatigue - but when it affects people you know, or care about, or have a vested interest in, then it hits home. And makes you realise that no-one is safe.
I am sure my fellow Gamespot followers will join me in hoping that the effect on GS is minimal, and that as few people are affected as possible. And that they will join me in sending or best wishes and hopes to the gang in such difficult times. Gamespot has been through some tough times lately, and lord knows I've thrown a few hissy fits and stormed out on occasion, only to return, but this place is still like a home to me and it hurts to see anything bad happen in that home.
Stay strong folks, and thanks for all you do. And if it is the case, good luck in all you do in the future. I know you will find new homes.
I just hope you don't have to.
