Skydance ends remote work at TVN and launches voluntary departures

Many TVN journalists have so far worked partly remotely. The date of the change in Poland is not known, and the company has not disclosed the number of people covered by the departure offer.

Skydance, the new owner of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), and therefore also TVN, will introduce office work for five days a week across the entire group. At the same time, it is launching a Voluntary Buyout Program (VBO). The decision by co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreitz was revealed on October 27 by Wirtualnemedia.pl (opens in a new tab), which obtained the message sent to employees.

The change means the end of the hybrid model in part of the former WBD. According to Deadline, Skydance is extending to this part of the group the rules already in force at Paramount. The new rules will come into effect in stages, depending on the location. The company did not provide the start dates for TVN in Poland. An anonymous TVN24 journalist told the website that many people had so far worked in a 3:2 arrangement, meaning three days in the newsroom and two remotely.

Employees qualified for the VBO will receive individual departure proposals and a specified time to make a decision. The company did not disclose how many people the program covers or what terms apply in individual countries. Deadline considers the VBO one of the first steps in the cost-cutting program following the Paramount and WBD merger, worth $110 billion. Skydance had previously announced more than $6 billion in savings and synergies. Voluntary departures may reduce the scale of later compulsory layoffs. A similar situation occurred earlier at Paramount, when the company tightened its in-office work rules.

The acquisition of TVN is being reviewed by the Ministry of State Assets, because the broadcaster has been on the list of protected entities since December 2024. In mid-October, the ministry confirmed that the notification had been received. It has 90 days from receipt to complete the proceedings.

Skydance is not an exception. On October 26, Microsoft offered voluntary departures to around 60,000 employees in the US, Canada, India and the UK, or roughly 27 percent of all the company's employees worldwide. The decision must be made by early December. A few days earlier, American Express announced the elimination of about 5 percent of jobs. According to various sources, this means from 3,500 to 3,800 positions.

For employees of companies after mergers, the Skydance example shows that a change in working arrangements and a departure offer can be announced at the same time.