Dish confirms more layoffs

Dish Network confirmed it engaged in a round of layoffs this week, but company officials did not provide details on the extent of the cuts.

"Like most businesses, we continually evaluate and make adjustments to ensure we're set up for long-term success," a Dish representative wrote in a statement. "We made the difficult decision to part ways with some team members due to changing business demands on some teams. Impacted employees will be notified by the end of the week. A WARN notice has been filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and both the Englewood and Littleton mayor offices."

Some posts on social media estimated the cuts could be as high as 20% of Dish's workforce. But the company rejected that figure.

"While we don't disclose exact numbers, I can tell you that 20 percent is not an accurate estimate. The number of impacted employees is considerably less than that," the spokesperson wrote in response to questions from Light Reading.

This wouldn't be the first time Dish has slimmed down this year. As Light Reading reported in July, Dish eliminated some jobs to reduce its overall expenses amid financing woes. When asked about job cuts by Light Reading, Dish didn't deny the cuts but didn't address them directly.

So far Dish is not listed among the employers on Colorado's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) list. Dish is based in Englewood, Colorado.

This wouldn't be the first time Dish has tightened its belt in recent years. According to Deadline, Dish in the summer of 2020 "made the difficult decision to reevaluate our organization. This includes a focused set of staffing reductions to align our workforce with the current and future needs of the business," said the company at the time.

Dish's headcount at the end of 2020 sat at 13,500, far below the 16,000 employees it counted in 2019, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of 2022, Dish counted 14,200 employees, just under the 14,500 employees it reported at the end of 2021.

The timing of the latest cuts comes as no surprise. Dish reported disastrous third quarter results, news that helped send the company's shares down to a 25-year low.