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TVB cuts 180 employees over HK$800 million deficit
The leading local broadcaster Television Broadcasts announced it would slash 180 staffers, five percent of the workforce, to cope with a five-year-consecutive loss despite the management saying it was mainly due to natural wastage.
The move came after the group said last Friday it would adjust manpower and save its production costs in a bid to save HK$260 million in annual operation costs.
Ian Lee Hock-lye, TVB's Acting Chief Financial Officer, said the human resource restructuring involved about 180 staffers, with some positions not being filled.
He claimed that most of the HK$260 million came from costs on outsourced suppliers, programme production, and overtime pay to staff.
The company has been in the red since 2018 and recorded a loss of HK$807 million despite a 24 percent year-on-year growth in revenue to HK$3.59 billion last year.
"It was not a large-scale layoff but a natural wastage," said Eric Tsang Chi-wai, TVB's General Manager (Content Operations), citing the group was still able to maintain operations although only one-third or half of staff were on duty during the three years of Covid pandemic.
Thomas Hui To, the group's Executive Chairman, forecasted "production-cost saving" will be continued in the next few years to reduce the operating pressure.
He added that around 57 percent of top managers of the group were replaced or dismissed in the past three years, describing the current team as "more capable and professional".
Ian Lee Hock-lye, TVB's Acting Chief Financial Officer, said the human resource restructuring involved about 180 staffers, with some positions not being filled.
He claimed that most of the HK$260 million came from costs on outsourced suppliers, programme production, and overtime pay to staff.
The company has been in the red since 2018 and recorded a loss of HK$807 million despite a 24 percent year-on-year growth in revenue to HK$3.59 billion last year.
"It was not a large-scale layoff but a natural wastage," said Eric Tsang Chi-wai, TVB's General Manager (Content Operations), citing the group was still able to maintain operations although only one-third or half of staff were on duty during the three years of Covid pandemic.
Thomas Hui To, the group's Executive Chairman, forecasted "production-cost saving" will be continued in the next few years to reduce the operating pressure.
He added that around 57 percent of top managers of the group were replaced or dismissed in the past three years, describing the current team as "more capable and professional".
