Skydance Media Offers Buyouts as Billionaire Owner Pursues Workforce Cuts

Skydance is offering eligible employees a one-time voluntary buyout as the media company seeks to reduce expenses after acquiring larger rival Warner Bros. Discovery and taking on its reported $80 million debt burden.

The cost-cutting plan was announced only weeks after Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery was completed on October 6.

Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz also told staff that Skydance will introduce a mandatory five-day-a-week office policy across the company.

The moves come as Skydance’s shares have lost roughly one-third of their value this year.

In an October 26 memo, the executives wrote: “As we bring our teams together, we recognize that not everyone will see their future here, and we respect that. To give eligible employees the option to move on in a way that works for them, we are introducing a Voluntary Buyout (VBO) Program.”

Employees who qualify will receive an individual notice outlining their specific terms and will be given a limited period to decide whether to accept the one-time offer.

“Please know we don’t take any of this lightly,” the memo said. “We are clear about what we’re building: a company that tells the stories people around the world love, embraces new ways to connect with audiences, and leads the next era of media and entertainment.”

The message added: “We have the talent, the creative firepower and the ambition to do it, and we will get there together.”

Skydance is expected to employ about 53,000 people by the end of the year. However, the company has not disclosed how many workers may receive buyout offers or face layoffs following the deal.

The expected reductions at Skydance come as Seattle faces another major employment shock, after Microsoft offered buyouts to nearly 60,000 workers.

The technology giant, valued at $3.95 trillion and led by CEO Satya Nadella, notified more than a quarter of its global workforce on Monday about the voluntary program. Microsoft is seeking to rein in spending while directing more resources toward artificial intelligence investments.

According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters, employees in finance, human resources, Copilot, AI experiences, Xbox and Windows + Devices are eligible for the offer.

Workers in marketing, security and the commercial business divisions are not included, the source said.

“This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said in a staff memo, according to the outlet.

“It also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs,” Coleman said.

Employees at the vice president level and below in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom would receive a “voluntary exit offer” based on the standard severance package for their location, The Seattle Times reported.

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Those who have received the offer have until December to make a final decision. 

The global company, based just 15 minutes outside of Seattle, is anticipating an acceptance rate of about three percent to five percent, a spokesperson told the outlet, which equates to fewer than 3,000 employees. 

Microsoft’s stock price briefly rose after news of the buyout came out, ending at about a 1.5 percent surge that same day. 

The major announcement also came just two days before the company reports its first-quarter financial results for its 2027 fiscal year, the report stated. 

That time period ran from July 1 through September 30.

As of June 30, Microsoft has 223,000 full-time employees globally, according to its annual filing. 

Earlier this year, the tech giant offered voluntary buyouts to around seven percent of its US workforce, which is about 9,000 staffers. 

And in July, Microsoft said it would cut 4,800 jobs across the world.

Microsoft is one of the largest private-sector employers in the Greater Seattle area, employing tens of thousands across its main campus in Redmond, as well as offices in Seattle, Bellevue and Issaquah. 

The news comes as The Emerald City continues to struggle with an economic crisis, business exodus, high job losses, public safety concerns, open-air drug use and affordability. 

Mayor Katie Wilson took office in January, and since then, she has been at the forefront of many of the issues. 

The Democrat recently faced backlash after the city returned to its typical squalor after she cleaned it up for the World Cup. 

The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce captured residents’ unhappiness in its most recent index survey, which was released on October 13. 

In the survey’s October findings, 65 percent of respondents said Seattle was ‘losing the positive momentum’ on public safety and quality of life observed during this summer’s sports event. 

Of those, 40 percent said they ‘strongly agreed’ with that sentiment. The survey interviewed 700 people from September 23 to October 1.

The chamber noted that the World Cup ‘showed what Seattle can do,’ and insisted that locals were concerned over the direction of the liberal city.

Though the survey did not mention Wilson directly, 66 percent of respondents said that city leaders were not doing enough.