Bell slashes another 700 jobs to reduce its debt

Bell Canada is cutting nearly 700 more jobs in a move to reduce its mounting debt, following thousands of layoffs that hit the company last year.

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Bell Canada is cutting nearly 700 more jobs in a move to reduce its mounting debt, following thousands of layoffs that hit the company last year.

BCE Inc., the parent company of Bell Media, confirmed it is laying off about 650 non-unionized management positions across Canada and cutting approximately 40 jobs at Bell Media, its media and entertainment subsidiary.

The latest layoffs follow Bell cutting 4,800 people “at all levels of the company” last year—the company’s largest cut in almost 30 years.

The announcement was made in January 2024, after the company sold or closed nine radio stations and laid off 6 per cent of its total employees the previous spring.

During the same period, Bell ended multiple television newscasts and made other programming cuts after BCE Inc. announced it would sell 45 of its 103 regional radio stations.

The company offered severance packages for 1,200 unionized employees earlier this year.

Last September, Bell also sold its 37.5 per cent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to Rogers for $4.7 billion.

Meanwhile, the company purchased U.S. telecom company Ziply for $5 billion in August.

According to BCE Inc.’s annual earnings report, Bell has laid off 12,000 employees across Canada, or about 22.5 per cent of its total workforce, since 2019.

The mass layoffs come after the company received hundreds of millions of dollars from both the federal and provincial governments over the years through various grants, contracts, and subsidies.

BCE Inc. did not respond to True North’s request for comment.