Diller to Hollywood: Lay off the layoffs?

It's getting close to the time of year when all the Hollywood studio chiefs boast about all the profits they've made during the past 12 months, thanks to the endless string of lucrative remakes and sequels they've churned out during the year. So after seeing that both NBC Universal and Viacom announced a big round of layoffs today, with Viacom laying off 850 employees and NBC Universal firing 500 employees, I wondered just who former studio mogul Barry Diller might be referring to when he lashed out at certain profitable companies who were having cutbacks "just so they can earn another $12 million or $20 million or $40 million in a year where no one's counting is really a horrible act when you think about it on every level."

Geez, could he possibly be talking about the titans of the entertainment business who are still keeping their corporate jets even as they engage in another brutal round of layoffs? While there's no one who seems to loathe the old entertainment biz more than Diller--now that he's an Internet entrepreneur and gadfly instead of a studio chief, he often sounds like a reformed drunk railing at his old drinking buddies--you have to wonder if he doesn't have a point. Speaking at the Reuters Media Summit today, he argued that "it's not that you don't want to earn as much money as you can--it's your obligation, of course--but companies have obligations beyond that," adding that firing people in economic downturns is "doing it at the worst time. It's throwing people out to what is inevitably a larger unemployment heap for frankly no good reason."

Someone, as they always do, asked Diller if he missed Hollywood. Not a chance. "Margins used to be very good in the movie business," he said. "They're now, what, 4%, 5% in a decent year. Where's the joy in that? Is there really a joy in 'Superman 17' or 'Iron Man 2'?" It's just a hunch, but I'm betting Barry didn't see "Saw 5" or "The Mummy 3" or "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" or he'd have really worked himself into a lather.

Photo of Barry Diller by Peter Foley / EPA

Comments

[tig]

I read this twice. And the point to this tripe was? Maybe to put Diller's 'Charpe looking' face in print.

[dennis]

I hate reading about billionaires. They have it all and could care less about those of us who have to work check to check. Diller should either put or shut up.

[Rob]

Gee, I seem to remember a time when Mr. Diller laid a ton of people off at fox just after the holidays in the mid 80's, I was one of them....

[Madeleine McBride]

I worked for USA Networks during the Diller regime--for about five years. I never worked harder in my life. Nor did I ever receive such generous compensation for my labor.

I don't know the man personally but I'd work for him again in a second.

I jokingly refer to my house as, "The House that Diller Built," because had I not received the stock options and the bonuses which I received for my hard work over those years, my family and I would still be in a little condo in an area of town where the public schools are woefully inadequate.

Kudos to my direct supervisor too, who undoubtedly campaigned fearlessly while looking directly at Diller, for the bonuses and stock options

[Doug Terry]

Diller has a very good point. Ultimately, throwing massive numbers of people out of work hurts everyone, because the economy then continues to slide ever downward. It is self defeating, but it fits in perfectly with the short term mania that drives American business. Nothing matters except showing that you can deliver bigger profits than the guy who was in the job just before you. Meet those numbers! The general prosperity of the country, given the failure of wages to keep up with inflation and the general cost of living, is actually an accident of the economic system, rather than the result of specific intent. Why not get busy destroying that, too? The end of this road is a dead end street with no one left to buy the products Hollywood, or anyone else, is making.

[Furious D]

Diller's right.

Profitable and healthy companies have no excuse to have layoffs unless it's to boost the CEO's bonus for the 1 day/2 point rise in the stock price it'll accrue.

I too feel it's okay to make as much money as you can, but how about making it by working, instead of just taking it.