Richard Branson at the launch of Virgin Media in Ireland. Image via Virgin Media
From its UK base, Virgin Media is about to give the go-ahead for an issuing of 900 redundancies for its employees, but its Irish staff are likely to be safe.
Virgin Media has issued a statement with words from its chief executive, Tom Mockridge, which says that the company will be looking to undergo major restructuring efforts in the coming years with aims of changing focus on certain divisions from within the company.
Purchased by Liberty Global for £15bn (€19.5bn) in 2013, Virgin Media has been around for nearly a decade, having entered the market with claims of being the first company to offer an all-in-one home entertainment package, but now it wants to change tack in an as-yet-unknown direction.
According to The Telegraph, the company said that with the news that 900 staff are to be let go from its employee numbers of 23,000, it still plans to recruit again to bring its staff numbers to 25,000 by the end of the year.
Ireland stays out of firing line
It also says that it will add a further 1,000 staff in 2017, but has admitted that it plans to outsource a number of these new roles outside of the UK but, in the meantime, it is deciding where it will cut its 900 staff from.
The company is in the midst of its five-year £3bn plan launched in 2013 dubbed Project Lightning to expand its network and, in response to today’s news, Mockridge has said: “Over the last three years, Virgin Media has been transformed.
“We’re expanding, investing and growing our business. The proposed reorganisation will give us an even sharper focus on the customer, network expansion and business growth.”
Meanwhile, questions over its Irish staff has understandably been raised, but a Virgin Media spokesperson has said that none of the planned redundancies are expected to affect Ireland.
