Layoffs at Warner

About 800 jobs are being eliminated, or 10 percent of the company's global workforce. Of the 800, 600 involve layoffs and 200 are open positions that will not be filled. From the LAT:

In a memo to employees, Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer and President Alan Horn said the cost-saving measures were prompted by the recession and the current business outlook. "The changing entertainment landscape, shifting consumer demand and the overall state of the economy have affected companies around the world, and Warner Bros. is not immune to these factors."

The studios are hardly in real trouble. (An earlier LAT story cited Harrison Ford's upfront salary of only $8 million a signal of greater cost-cutting at Paramount.) And for what it's worth, Warner is one of Time Warner's healthier units. But at times like these, it becomes hard to justify the kind of outrageous spending that much of Hollywood long has been accustomed to.