ShopNBC, Jewelry Television announce layoffs

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ShopNBC, Jewelry Television announce layoffs

January 08, 2009

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On Wednesday, ShopNBC announced an immediate 11 percent reduction in salaried staff, while Jewelry Television began wide-scale layoffs that likely will span all departments.

Eden Prairie, Minn.--On-air retailers ShopNBC and Jewelry Television are among the latest companies to announce they are cutting staff as sales wane in the face of the global economic crisis.

ShopNBC announced on Wednesday an immediate 11 percent reduction in salaried staff, according to a news release on the company's Web site. The latest cuts represent a 27 percent reduction in salaried staff from fiscal 2007.

In addition, the company will suspend its 401(k) match for fiscal 2009 and will freeze salaries, with no merit pay increases in the coming fiscal year, according to the release.

"The steps taken to resize our organization for 2009 are difficult but necessary," ShopNBC President and COO Keith Stewart stated in the release. "Going forward, we will continue to aggressively explore and implement all appropriate cost-reduction measures. By reducing our cost structure today, we will be able to focus on our long-term objectives of better serving our loyal customers and achieving profitable growth."

Eden Prairie, Minn.-based ShopNBC, which is owned and operated by ValueVision Media, is a multi-channel electronic retailer of a wide variety of products, including apparel, home goods, electronics and jewelry.

According to National Jeweler's 2008 State of the Majors report, ShopNBC ranks 18th on the $100 Million Supersellers list, with $350 million in jewelry sales in 2007.

In addition, on Wednesday, Jewelry Television began wide-scale layoffs that likely will span all departments at its Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.

JTV spokeswoman Kelly Fletcher told the newspaper that notices will be handed out through Friday but did not say how many employees will lose their jobs.

The layoffs are the result of poor holiday sales and the weak economy, the newspaper reported.

"We're in a cost-cutting mode," Fletcher told the Sentinel. "We're not filing for bankruptcy."

The layoffs at Jewelry Television are the latest in a series for the company, which cut more than 200 staff members in May, followed by another 30 jobs cuts from its information technology department in November.

The on-air jewelry retailer ranks 11th on National Jeweler's $100 Million Supersellers list, with $480 million in jewelry sales and a viewership of 68 million U.S. households.

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