How Many Bodies Exactly Is CBS Interactive Trying To Hide? Try “275-ish.”

The pink slips were passed out on Thursday throughout the various business duchies that make up CBS Interactive —CNET, CBS.com, CBSNews,com, CBSSports.com, BNET, GameSpot, TV.com, last.fm, and CHOW. While CBS confirmed to me and other reporters that layoffs did happen across the board, it refused to talk about how many total people are losing their jobs. That left us scrambling about gathering piecemeal information. There were about 20 layoffs at Last.fm ; 8 editors, we hear, at CBSNews.com are out of a job; another set of "redundancies" were eliminated at CBSSports.com. But how big exactly were the layoffs, especially at Cnet, where most of the employees reside? CBS, which is at heart a news organization, doesn't want the public to know how many layoffs just occurred at CBS Interactive. As of this writing, Cnet didn't even report the fact that there were layoffs on Thursday. Neither did CBSNews.com . And it's not because they didn't get the memo (from CBS Interactive CEO Quincy Smith, reprinted below).