Sony Pictures Entertainment to Lay off 'Hundreds' of Staff

Sony Pictures Entertainment is planning to lay off ‘hundreds’ of workers in its film, TV and corporate divisions, according to reports from Variety. 

The restructuring – announced in an employee memo shared by Variety – is designed to help support key growth areas for the company, and reportedly includes departures from senior leaders such as John Zaccario, President of Game Show Network and Colin Davis, EVP of Comedy Development, according to Deadline. 

This announcement follows Sony’s move to close non-core business areas, such as its VFX production company Pixomondo and its costume rental business, which it has run since 1924. 

Discussing the layoffs in a company memo, Ravi Ahuja, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said: “This organisational shift is about reorienting to thrive in a changing industry. By aligning our structure and resources more closely with our strategic priorities, we will move forward with greater clarity and momentum and be better equipped for innovation and resilience.”

Ravi first took charge of Sony Entertainment in early 2025, and has focused on strengthening consumer engagement in his leadership. 

He says: “Over the past year, we have sharpened our strategy and clarified where we believe the greatest opportunities exist. As we lean into those priorities, we need to operate with greater focus, speed and alignment to strengthen our differentiated capabilities.”

Aligning with industry changes

According to Ravi, the decision to cut jobs was made to align the company “with where the business is going – not where it has been”. This, Ravis says, “requires changes to how we are structured and where we invest”.

While Ravi says Sony is “uniquely well positioned” for evolution in the entertainment industry – with the company seeing a 22% jump in profits for 2025 – he adds that the company needs to increase “focus and investment” in the areas that are “most critical to our future.”

This includes shifting attention to areas such as franchise strategy and brand extension, anime, experiences, platform-native content and next-gen content, say sources close to the decision-making process – as reported on by Variety. 

As part of this strategy, the company has been launching new and innovative ways to engage customers – including the launch of ‘The Playerbase’ which allows players to be scanned into a game. While this is currently only available on Gran Turismo 7, the company has plans for it to expand to other PlayStation Studios titles. 

Delivering on customer expectations

This is not the first time Sony has laid off employees in recent years. In February 2024, the company announced that it was cutting around 900 jobs in its PlayStation division, equivalent to around 8% of its workforce. 

These cuts were shared by former Sony Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, who said that the company needed to “deliver on expectations from developers and gamers and continue to propel future technology in gaming”. Because of this, he said the company “took a step back to ensure we are set up to continue bringing the best gaming experiences to the community.” 

As part of these cuts, the company’s PlayStation studio in London was closed in May 2024, after more than 20 years in operation.