Nate Silver Leads List Of Execs Laid Off By Disney and ESPN

More names continue to emerge out from what’s shaping up as ESPN’s worst round of layoffs in years.

The looming specter of a layoff has hung over ESPN since parent Walt Disney Co. announced in February it would cut 7,000 jobs and $5.5 billion in costs. ESPN could lose up to 100 executives and staffers this week.

Over the first few days, ESPN’s radio/podcast operations and the FiveThirtyEight blog seem particularly hard hit. Some of the names identified as sadly leaving Disney/ESPN since the pink slips began flying Monday morning include: 

• Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight. He was named as one of the “The World’s Most Influential People” by Time in 2009. That didn’t save him from the layoffs impacting high-salaried executives and off-camera talent. ESPN bought it in 2013.

“Disney layoffs have substantially impacted FiveThirtyEight. I am sad and disappointed to a degree that’s kind of hard to express right now,” Silver tweeted Tuesday. “We’ve been at Disney almost 10 years. My contract is up soon and I expect that I’ll be leaving at the end of it.”

Silver’s FiveThirtyEight colleagues Maggie Koerth, Chadwick Matlin, Alexandra Samuels, Anna Rothschild, Andrew Mangan, Curtis Yee and Elena Mejia also tweeted their layoffs on Tuesday.

“Looks like over half of the FiveThirtyEight newsroom got laid off (including me). Horrible day,” tweeted Mejia.

• Russell Wolff, ESPN executive vice president and general manager of ESPN+. The longtime boss of international operations was once considered a candidate for the ESPN presidency held by Jimmy Pitaro and John Skipper. But the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Wolff was among those leaving the company. 

“The company has invested heavily in ESPN+, but has been cautious about moving major sports content from its TV channel to that service,” noted the WSJ.  “ESPN+, which had 24.9 million subscribers as of Dec. 31, streams live events from the National Hockey League and other leagues, as well as original programming. The service costs $9.99 a month and is also available in a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu.”

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• Peter Gianesini, ESPN’s senior director of digital audio programming. The 25-year veteran announced on LinkedIn that his position had been eliminated during the current restructuring. Gianesini served at ESPN for 25 years. 

“Thank you to the talent who trusted me with their voice and their reputation. I never, ever took that responsibility lightly,” he wrote.

• Mike Soltys, ESPN’s vice president of corporate communications. The beloved 43-year veteran is ranked as ESPN’s second-longest tenured employee. The PR executive joined the new network as an unpaid summer intern in 1980. His wife, Teresa, is undergoing her second round of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. 

Tributes poured in for Soltys, a savvy strategist who deftly massaged one crisis after another for the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

“There is no more demanding place to work in sports television than ESPN,” tweeted Fred Gaudelli, the longtime executive producer of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage. “The fact that @espnmikes flourished there for 43 years tells you all you need to know about Mike Soltys.”

Added former ESPN colleague Howie Schwab: “What makes me upset about Mike Soltys being laid off is twofold. After 43 years of loyalty, he couldn’t leave on his own terms. Second, he is going through a lot with his wife having cancer. Cruel business world now.”

• Louise Cornetta, program director for ESPN Audio. She tweeted she was out after a 26-year run at the Worldwide Leader. “Excited for a new adventure…and never seeing snow again!” she wrote.
• Scott McCarthy, vice president of ESPN Audio, is among the layoffs, according to Barrett Sports Media.
• Ditto for Ryan Hurley, program director of ESPN’s 98.7 radio station in New York.
• Plus, Amanda Brown, program director at the ESPN LA 710 radio station.

ESPN’s on-air talent will come under the microscope this summer as the last wave in the rolling layoffs. Talents with expiring contracts or with less than a year left on their deals will be vulnerable.

Some talents will be offered painful pay cuts for as much as half of their current salaries.

This is a developing story that will be updated