Yahoo Lifestyle Sesame Workshop Announces Major Layoffs
Just a few months after Max said it would stop distributing episodes of Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop announced a round of major layoffs.
In a letter to staff on Wednesday, March 5, president and CEO Sherrie Rollins Westin announced that Sesame Workshop will "downsize significantly," calling the cuts "necessary to ensure that the Workshop is poised to continue to deliver on its mission for years to come."
"That does not make the human impact of these reductions any less painful," Westin continued.
"Unfortunately, Sesame Workshop is not immune to the current economic challenges inherent to the drastically changing media landscape," the note read.
"Combined with the end of our current distribution deal and the policy changes affecting our federal funding, we're confronted with a perfect storm. These factors, among others, have left us with a significant budget gap that we must solve for as we head into the next fiscal year."
Just one day after unionizing, Sesame Workshop’s CEO announced layoffs, per a note to staff shared with me https://t.co/2sLyC0HC9h pic.twitter.com/iICVm4tDG5
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) March 5, 2025
Related: Bob McGrath, 'Sesame Street' Star, Dead at 90
As NPR reported, the layoffs were announced within a day of over 200 Sesame Workshop employees expressing the desire to form a union. Some employees, including cast members, puppeteers, crew and writers are already unionized, according to a statement from OPEIU Local 153.
Sesame Workshop is still searching for a new TV or streaming home for Sesame Street, with production on season 56 scheduled to start in April 2025. The non-profit said the new season will feature an updated format, according to The Hollywood Reporter, including two 11-minute story segments with a new animated series, Tales From 123, in between each installment.
Every new episode will also include a special song connected to the theme of that particular show.
The 55th season of Sesame Street premiered on Max in January 2025.
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