ABS-CBN Corp., led by the Lopez family, has laid off around 100 employees, or about 3 percent of its workforce, as the media giant continues to face financial challenges due to declining advertising revenues. The layoffs were confirmed in a statement on Wednesday, with the company expressing gratitude to the affected employees for their years of service.
The layoffs were reportedly announced during an online meeting led by ABS-CBN News head Mary Ann Francis Toral. Various departments, including reporters and cameramen, were impacted.
Raul De Asis, president of the ABS-CBN supervisors union, acknowledged the difficulty of the decision but stated that it was necessary to ensure the company’s survival. The media group’s advertising revenue, which grew 16 percent to P6.7 billion last year, remains far below its 2019 peak of P22.94 billion, prior to the loss of its free TV franchise in 2020.
ABS-CBN has been undergoing financial strain since its franchise was not renewed by the House of Representatives, leading to ad placements shifting to competitors. In 2020, the company began retrenching employees, and by 2021, it had laid off over 4,500 staff, including 2,674 regular employees. Losses for ABS-CBN soared nearly fivefold last year, reaching P12.84 billion due to rising production costs.
