NBC News informed staffers on Wednesday that the company is laying off approximately 2% of its workforce as NBCUniversal prepares for its impending spinoff of Versant, the new company that will hold NBC’s cable assets starting January 2026.
As part of the spin, NBC News is separating itself from the news-focused cable channels MSNBC, which will rebrand to MSNOW under Versant, and CNBC, which will continue operating under the same name. With those changes right around the corner, NBC opted to slightly downsize its NBC News division, laying off about 150 people, in order to reallocate those resources elsewhere.
And according to a report by Alex Weprin in The Hollywood Reporter, some of those reallocated resources will be given to NBC Sports. “NBC News is shifting resources to other areas, including the forthcoming subscription offering, and new areas of coverage like sports,” Weprin reports.
In a memo obtained by Weprin from NBC News head Cesar Conde, staff were informed about some of the sports-focused initiatives NBC will be focusing its resources on.
“NBC News is expanding its new Sports Hub, in partnership with NBC Sports, with the NBA returning to NBC, as well as the Milan Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the World Cup on Telemundo,” Conde’s memo read.
Per Weprin, the layoffs won’t be focused on one specific team within NBC News, though “the cuts were driven by the fact that NBC News will no longer be providing newsgathering capabilities for CNBC and MSNBC.” The networks transitioning to Versant will build out their own newsgathering capabilities separate from NBC News.
Simply put, it seems that without needing to program two 24-hour cable news channels using NBC News personnel, NBC is able to invest some of those resources into other areas of its business, like sports. The network hasn’t been shy about making moves on that front in recent years. As Conde mentioned in his memo, NBC is launching its NBA package this season, will broadcast the 2026 Winter Olympics, and has rights to Super Bowl LX in February.
If there were ever a time to divert resources into NBC Sports, it’d be now.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.