Sports agency buries the lede in layoff announcement
News that IMG, which was recently bought by talent agency William Morris Endeavor, would lay off 3 percent of its workforce came four paragraphs deep in a lengthy statement.
Sometimes it’s best just to rip off the Band-Aid.
The co-CEOs of sports agency IMG decidedly did not do that in Monday’s announcement that they would be laying off 3 percent of the firm’s workforce, or about 100 employees.
Notice that the firm would be “downsizing” didn’t come until nearly 200 words into the statement from Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, in the fourth paragraph. The co-CEOs build up to the news with an information dump about how IMG was bought by William Morris Entertainment in May, how the new ownership has helped the agency “live up to its potential,” its positioning for the future, and “tough choices” that have to come in the wake of the acquisition.
In the paragraph after the layoff announcement, the co-CEOs explain how the move will benefit the agency:
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