Ticketmaster Inc. will lay off 208 people by Jan. 7 at its Los Angeles headquarters, more than one-third of its local employment, according to filings submitted to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The laid-off employees are part of the company’s local phone center, which is located at Ticketmaster’s main office at 3701 Wilshire Blvd. Ticketmaster’s headquarters will employ 280 workers after the layoffs.
Ticketmaster executives declined to comment on the layoffs, but issued this statement: “The closure of the Ticketmaster Los Angeles Phone Center will result in the loss of 200 part time employees. It is the result of an ongoing transition of Ticketmaster phone center operations to three national telecommunication locations in Texas, Virginia and West Virginia that employ more than 2,000 workers.”
Ticketmaster, which is majority-owned by USA Networks Inc., began closing its 22 phone centers nationwide more than a year ago as the percentage of revenues from phone sales started to decline. The company sells ticketing services over the phone, online and at retail centers worldwide. It also has a division of online personals.
Company sources said tickets sold by phone at Ticketmaster accounted for 33.1 percent of total tickets at the end of the third quarter of this year, compared to 41.9 percent of total tickets sold at the end of 1999.
At the same time, online ticket sales have climbed at Ticketmaster. Company sources said online tickets accounted for 31.5 percent of total tickets sold year-to-date ending Sept. 30. Online tickets accounted for 13.4 percent of total tickets sold at the end of 1999, three years after the company began selling tickets online.
The L.A. call center is one of the last remaining centers to be closed. As of December 2000, Ticketmaster had 16 worldwide call centers with national centers in L.A.; Orlando, Fla.; Pharr and McAllen, Texas; and Richmond and Virginia Beach, Va.
Many of its centers were acquired from other ticket operations, said Mark Basham, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s.
“They’ve done acquisitions over the years and they’ve maintained these local offices and are looking to cut costs,” Basham said. “The three that are left standing will be much larger than any of the 22. Larger centers are more economical to operate.”
CitySearch targeted
The closed call center follows Ticketmaster’s move in July to lay off 17 percent, or 90 employees, of its CitySearch division. CitySearch cut 150 jobs last year and currently has about 450.
In its third quarter ended Sept. 30, Ticketmaster reported its CitySearch division had $11 million in revenues, down from $13.9 million for the like period a year ago. Revenues from ticketing operations were $133.9 million in the third quarter, up from $124.9 million.
Overall, Ticketmaster reported a net loss of $49.4 million (35 cents per diluted share) for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, down from a net loss of $51.2 million (36 cents) in the like year-earlier quarter.
Third-quarter revenues were $157.5 million, vs. $147.1 million in the third quarter 2000.
