Bloomberg Television cuts staff; says goodbye to 'Night Talk'

Financial news network Bloomberg Television today pulled the plug on its "Night Talk" program and bid goodbye to longtime anchor Mike Schneider.

Schneider's last program was Monday night.

Additional staff cuts and TV programming lineup changes are expected to be announced Wednesday. The moves are part of broad restructuring of the multimedia group, which includes Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio, a person familiar with the situation said.

The private company, founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, generates about $6 billion a year in revenue.

But the shuffle has already begun. Bloomberg Television Managing Editor John Meehan left the company last week. His departure comes four months after former NBC, CBS and Sony BMG Music executive Andy Lack was hired to manage Bloomberg's television and radio operations. Lack brought in David Rhodes from the Fox News Channel to run the television operations.

Bloomberg operates 24 hours a day and has TV channels in 11 countries, but its sprawling operations are seen as disjointed and not making full use of its team of reporters in 143 bureaus around the world.

Although the company plans to eliminate programs and trim employees, it plans to hire additional staff this year to improve its programming to better position the company for growth, said the person familiar with the situation.

"While other news organizations are shrinking, we continue to expand, improving our existing products while investing in new ones," Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer said in a statement in October when Lack was hired.

-- Meg James