Telco Telekom Romania has made 130 of its sports staff redundant amid months of speculation about parent company Deutsche Telekom’s retreat from the Romanian market, according to local media.
Telekom Romania announced last week that it will be laying off 692 employees as part of a restructuring process, 130 of which are from the sports department.
There has been speculation surrounding Deutsche Telekom’s sale of its 54-per-cent stake in the company. Telekom Romania had a year-on-year decline in revenue of nine per cent in the last quarter of 2018.
Telekom Romania has invested heavily in premium football rights in the country. It has in the last 18 months tried to reduce costs by working with rival broadcasters.
Along with pay-television broadcaster Digi Sport, it has acquired and shared rights to the Uefa Champions League, Europa League, Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A and top-tier domestic Liga I.