Overview

• About 7% of the roughly 2,000-person news division could be cut beginning this week, according to Status reporting cited by the New York Post.
• Comcast plans to spin off MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network and other cable and digital brands into Versant, a standalone company projected to generate about $7 billion in annual revenue.
• Versant is set to debut on Nasdaq under the ticker VSNT with longtime NBCUniversal executive Mark Lazarus as CEO and a tax-free share distribution to Comcast investors.
• Operational separation steps include NBC News journalists ending MSNBC appearances on Oct. 20, the end of joint editorial meetings, and a November rebrand of MSNBC to MS NOW with new Times Square studios.
• NBC News has already made smaller cuts in its graphics department and begun a consultation process in its London bureau as part of the transition.