CBS Cuts Six Staffers For Unlaunched Music Site; When Are More Coming?
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS), the digital arm of CBS which incorporates *CNET* now, is laying off about six editorial employees for a planned music site called Juke, which never launched (news was first reported by Idolator). The site was in works since before CBS bought CNET (NSDQ: CNET) Networks, and as the integration happened, CBS decided to focus efforts on building its Last.fm service, which has seen its own share of integration missteps. Among the editorial employees let go were former Blender editor Craig Marks. Meanwhile, does anyone remember that CNET/CBS also owns MP3.com, which it bought in 2003.
Speaking of these side projects, what's happening with the initial idea of disposing off more non-core products within CNET's portfolio? Before it got acquired and in the middle of its board proxy fight with Jana Partners, CNET sold off its Webshots photo sharing site to *American Greetings* and promised to sell more. At that time I speculated MySimon and Search.com and others.
Also, CBS is probably also thinking of doing some more layoffs, I would imagine, and wouldn't be surprised if a major portion of come from the editorial side of things, including News.com, CNET's tech reviews, TechRepublic and others. Again, no inside knowledge yet, but just joining the dots based on the market realities, post-integration . For the Q308 earnings, CBS Interactive (which includes CNET) revs ballooned to $140.7 million from $35.9 million for the same quarter last year...and yes, even though it is a bright spot for the company, the relative reality is a lot more grim
By Rafat Ali