Layoffs took place at Web18 last Friday, MediaNama has learned from multiple internal sources, according to whom, the number of layoffs is between 50-70. This is a part of the restructuring exercise taking place at the TV18 group, wherein operations are being synergised between TV and web, with an integrated newsroom approach. As a result, the content teams have been affected the most, sources say. From what we have heard, In.com has been impacted the most, followed by MoneyControl.com, the groups flagship financial portal linked to CNBC-TV18, and the tech portal Tech2. This follows around a week after TV18 is reported to have laid off a significant number of employees from the TV business. The Hoot also reported earlier about layoffs at Network18's web properties. Please note that, at the time of writing this post, Web18 CEO Lakshmi Narasimhan, FirstPost CEO Durga Raghunath and IBNLive CEO Rajan Srinivasan were unavailable for comment. When we had previously contacted Narasimhan about Web18 (when TV18 had laid off people), he had asked us to contact Saket Saurabh, GM Corporate Development at Network18. Multiple attempts to contact Saurabh since Friday, have yielded no response. We haven't heard back from Network18 CEO B. Saikumar and COO Ajay Chacko either. Editorially, Moneycontrol is being synergized with the TV unit (CNBC-TV18), and the group is not looking for separate reporters for Moneycontrol, three sources said, while two others have said that around 40% of Moneycontrol's staff has been laid off. Operations of FirstPost and the Network18's UK based News…
