Sony BMG Fires 61, Ends Downsizing

Sony BMG Music Entertainment fired 61 people Friday, completing a downsizing that began with the 2004 deal that created the second-largest U.S. music company.

The joint venture of Sony Corp. of Japan and Bertelsmann of Germany has more than 6,000 employees.

Sony BMG confirmed that 42 employees would leave the company as a final element of its restructuring. Thirty-two of them worked in the creative services department, which was formerly based on the East and West coasts but was consolidated in New York on Friday.

An additional 19 employees were fired at Sony Music Group, which was reorganized last month when new heads were installed at Columbia Records and Epic Records. Since December, Sony Music has hired nine new employees.

After Sony and BMG combined their music operations, top executives cut nearly 2,000 jobs, or about 25% of the workforce. Since then, Sony BMG’s U.S. market share has declined by about 3 points, to around 25%, although Sony Music saw a slight increase in sales last year.