layoff

TikTok said Wednesday it will close its Nashville office in October, laying off 250 workers.

The move is a retrenchment from the social video company’s expansion into Nashville in 2024 and comes as many tech companies are reevaluating their workforce amid the growth of artificial intelligence.

“We have decided to close our Nashville office to streamline our operations and better align our teams for long-term growth,” said TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which oversees TikTok’s U.S. operations. “We remain fully committed to providing secure, safe and positive experiences for the 200 million Americans that create, discover and connect with what they love on TikTok.”

The decision was specific to the Nashville office to bring its teams closer together, according to a TikTok USDS Joint Venture spokesperson.

TikTok‘s U.S. operator notified the State of Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development about the number of layoffs and the office closure on Wednesday. The WARN notice did not detail what roles were at the office, but some jobs were related to content moderation, according to Nashville Metro Councilmember Terry Vo.

“I’m disappointed for all the Nashvillians who are waking up to this reality,” Vo said.

TikTok did not respond to questions on what types of roles were at the Nashville office or whether artificial intelligence was a factor for the layoffs.

TikTok in 2024 signed a 143,610 square foot lease at the Moore Building in the Music Row area, having spent several million dollars to build out the space, according to the Tennessean. The lease also roughly tripled its office space in Nashville, the Tennessean reported.

The social media company has its U.S. headquarters in Culver City.

In 2024, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) expressed disapproval of the TikTok office opening in Nashville because at that time, TikTok’s parent company was Chinese tech giant ByteDance.

“When TikTok’s CEO was in Washington, I made it clear to him that Tennesseans are extremely concerned about China’s influence,” Blackburn said in a statement in 2024, adding there were concerns about how the company would handle U.S. user data and whether it would push for the Chinese government’s interests.

Since then, the U.S. government, TikTok and ByteDance came to an agreement last year to establish a separate entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture overseeing TikTok’s operations and data protection in the U.S. that is majority American owned.

A spokesperson for Blackburn did not immediately return a request for comment on TikTok’s office closure in Nashville.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Oregon-based Enderle Group, said he expects more layoffs at other TikTok U.S. office locations due to the new ownership.

“When a new ownership takes over a company, they make adjustments to the staffing levels,” Enderle said.

Over the weekend, the Inland Empire radio station, KCAL-FM 96.7, started playing music without any on-air staff.

The Redlands-based radio station laid off all of its radio personalities last week and transitioned into an “All Music, All the Time” classic rock format.

“96.7 KCAL Rocks is turning the page today. Thank you to every listener who made the last chapter what it was,” the station’s staff wrote in a social media post. “Classic rock. Nothing but music. All day across the Inland Empire.”

The station’s veteran radio hosts, part-time and weekend fill-ins, were all cut from the rock station, including Daryl Norsell, who worked at the station for 42 years; Patrick Tish, who said he worked at the station for 15 years and Nikki Preston. John DeSantis, the evening host and program director for the past six years, confirmed the layoffs in a social media post.

“They will be moving to an automated, human-less format. To say this is shocking is an understatement. I have a lot to process, and will be saying more shortly,” DeSantis wrote. “But for right now, I just want to thank all of you for letting me be part of the KCAL family. It has been a radio dream come true. You will always rock.”

The radio station has served the Inland Empire ever since first hitting the airwaves in 1965. KCAL is owned by Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation, which also operates the area’s classic hits radio station, KOLA 99.9FM. Together, the two stations reach over 800,000 weekly listeners in the Riverside-San Bernardino market, according to Anaheim Broadcasting. The company could not be reached directly for a comment on the layoffs.

“We rebuilt KCAL around the music our listeners grew up on, the songs and the artists that made classic rock,” Kelly Sanders, the chief operating officer of Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation, said in a news release to the Southern California News Group “KCAL will deliver a focused, consistent listening experience with broader appeal for both our audience and advertising partners.”

The release also noted that the change “expands the station’s musical focus and will have fewer interruptions and more music throughout the day” and did not address the layoffs, according to a report from the OC Register.

This is the second major blow to the Inland Empire’s broadcast community this summer. In June, the last local on-air hosts at Riverside-based KGGI-FM were laid off, in iHeartMedia’s latest round of national job cuts. In an internal memo, the media giant said the cuts were meant to restructure its radio programming to better “leverage” the company’s technology.

Steve “Razz” Brazill started working at KCAL FM in 1987, as the station’s resident concert photographer and radio personality. In a social media post, he called KCAL his “home” and reminisced about hosting live events at the now-closed Whiskey Creek restaurant in Redlands.

“KCAL has been a part of my identity. And I’m so happy to say I never really had coworkers, I had friends and family, and memories I’ll cherish forever,” wrote Brazill. “Being a part of KCAL ended for all of us today, but those relationships won’t. I’ll miss seeing you all at the studio, but I look forward to seeing you in real life.”

BuzzFeed is cutting roughly 35% of its workforce in its first major restructuring since media mogul Byron Allen bought a majority stake in the firm two months ago.

The layoffs, outlined in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday, will affect about 180 staff and contract positions across BuzzFeed and its sister brands HuffPost and Tasty.

“We’ve been actively managing costs for some time, working through scenarios to save as many jobs as possible,” BuzzFeed’s leadership team said in the memo. “Unfortunately, the elimination of certain roles is still required.”

The company, which maintains a Hollywood office, said the changes are necessary to “put our business on a path to profitable and sustainable growth.”

This restructuring comes after the millennial-focused media company, best known for quirky video content and online quizzes, sold a majority stake to Allen in May in exchange for $20 million in cash and a $100 million promissory note. Allen also became chairman and chief executive of the company.

Through the restructuring, BuzzFeed’s leaders said, the company will aim to grow its audience and bolster its positon in free streaming content.

The BuzzFeed purchase is the latest in a series of business moves Allen has made in recent years to build his entertainment empire. The former stand-up comedian recently purchased a portion of CBS’s late-night block earlier this year, taking over the time slot for the 2026-2027 season. The slot once belonged to “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which was canceled last year and aired its final episode in May.

Allen’s company holds a slate of network-affiliate stations and owns the Weather Channel network. The company bought a 10.7% stake in cable channel Starz for $25 million in March.

Allen could not be reached for a comment on the new layoffs at BuzzFeed.

In its own statement, BuzzFeed said “We are extremely fortunate that Byron has enormous confidence in our management team and moved very quickly to reposition this company and unlock its value.”

BuzzFeed was founded in 2006. The website became known as a pop culture hub, where readers could indulge in the latest celebrity gossip or discover a unique cooking recipe. But over the years, the company has declined and faced mounting financial struggles. BuzzFeed reported a $15-million net loss in the first quarter of the year. The company generated $31.6 million in revenue, a 12.4% decline compared to the year-ago period. Ad revenue fell nearly 20% year-over-year to $17.1 million. However, content revenue grew roughly 69% to $7.5 million. The company is expected to release its second-quarter results Aug. 4.

Times Staff Writers Meg James and Stacy Perman contributed to this report.

A SLEW of Howard Stern Show stars have confirmed they’re still employed just days after a dozen staffers were sacked in a series of layoffs last week.

In a video posted before the World Cup final on Sunday, several employees are seen inside the Stern wing of SiriusXM studios playing a very uncoordinated soccer game.

The Instagram post tagged several staffers, many of whom have played an on-air role on the show.

JD Harmeyer, Jon Hein, Steve Nowicki, Jason Kaplan, Will Murray, Sal Governale, Richard Christy and Mike Pearlman were tagged in the video.

On July 13, at least a dozen Stern Show staffers, including on-air personalities, were shown the door, after it was announced in a Zoom call that Stern would only be doing just one live show a week after his long summer break.

The layoffs included several on-air fan favorites such as Benjy Bronk, Jon Blitt, Memet Walker and Mike Trainor.

OFF THE AIR

Four Howard Stern Show stars FIRED after years of loyalty in staff bloodbath

Insiders are calling the severance packages handed to these longtime staffers downright insulting, especially since some had been with Stern for his entire two-decade run at SiriusXM.

One source revealed that workers received barely more than a single week of pay for each year they put in.

“You would think Stern would have taken care of these guys after decades of loyalty,” the source said.

Every ten years on the job only earned them two months of pay, plus a strict NDA threatening to strip away even that tiny payout.

In the media world, standard severance usually runs closer to two weeks of pay per year worked.

The shocker comes right after the radio host locked in his latest SiriusXM extension in late 2025, after even admitting on air that he was not entirely sure he would sign on again.

During the announcement, he assured listeners the new agreement would give him more free time while keeping him on the airwaves.

Under the 2026 schedule, he was supposed to broadcast live Monday through Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern.

Back in August 2025, sources indicated that Stern and Sirius management were unlikely to come to terms on his massive $100 million yearly deal, leaving many to believe the legendary show was finally coming to a close.

Although he did end up renewing with the network, this severely reduced broadcast schedule signals that Sirius is no longer throwing around that kind of massive payday.

Longtime on-air anchor Glen Walker is making his way back to broadcast news in Los Angeles.

After being laid off from KTLA in February, alongside other veteran broadcasters like Lu Parker and Mark Kriski, Walker is starting a new chapter with KTTV, L.A.’s local Fox affiliate. He began his new role as a per-diem anchor this week, where he’s set to have an on-air introduction on Wednesday and begin anchoring shows on Thursday evening.

“I didn’t feel like I was done,” said Walker of his career, in a phone interview Wednesday morning. “I’m still healthy. I’m not ready to retire.”

As Fox’s new rotating anchor, he won’t have a regular broadcast time, but will instead float between the KTTV and KCOP channels to fill in as needed.

Over the last few months, Walker has been eager to get back on air, especially with the local primary elections this month and the coming midterms in November. He said he plans to take the new gig “one day at a time,” but he’s most interested in covering politics and the current state of affairs in Los Angeles.

“With the elections and how it’s all related to the fires and the homeless problem, this city — maybe the whole state — has reached a point where [we ask], which direction are we going from here?” Walker said.

The broadcast news industry has been experiencing upheaval and consolidation — most recently with layoffs and firings at “60 Minutes,” and the pending merger of news giants Tegna and Nexstar. With the ongoing domination of streaming services, many local stations are struggling to compete and maintain viewership.

“[The stations] will get it figured out because there’s an adjustment period. It used to be just newspapers and radio, then you had television,” Walker said. “Now we’ve got the internet. Technology advances, and you just have to adjust to it.”

When he and several of his colleagues received the news of the layoffs at KTLA, the group was met with an outpouring of support from many loyal viewers and fans of the station. Walker, who had been with the station since 2010, was surprised by how many messages he received.

“You make a bigger impact than you think,” said Walker, who’s hopeful the same viewers will start to tune in to the local Fox station. “You just go to do your job every day, and you don’t think about it day to day, but then when something like that happens, that’s when you really see where people appreciate you.”

In between jobs, Walker said he spent his time golfing and trying to keep busy around the house and focused on landing a job. As soon as he stepped into Fox’s studio for a practice run, he said he felt an immediate sense of familiarity.

“I was sitting behind the anchor desk, and there was the teleprompter, the camera and that’s it,” Walker said. “It’s all the same at every TV station. It’s just a little bit of a different environment.”