Irma Lemus
DOWNTOWN -- The Glendale Galleria's Warner Bros. retail store may soon
be closing as a result of the Jan. 11 America Online and Time Warner
merger, officials said.
About 3,800 people will be unemployed if all 130 Warner Bros. retail
stores throughout the country close down.
"We don't need to keep the stores to capture the value," said Barbara
Brogliatti, Warner Bros. director for corporate communications.
Brogliatti said Warner Bros. will sell the chain, Glendale's store
included. If a buyer is not found, the stores will be closed, Brogliatti
said.
In addition, 100 jobs will be cut at Entertaindom.com, an
entertainment-related Web company in Glendale, Brogliatti said. The Web
site will be melded into the studios' own site, she said.
More than 2,000 other AOL Time Warner jobs were slashed Tuesday. The
businesses affected were Warner Music Group, New Line Cinema, AOL and the
Time Warner magazines. Four hundred other jobs also were eliminated last
week at CNN.
The move is part of AOL Time Warner trying to streamline operations
and deliver earnings to investors. AOL and Time Warner merged Jan. 11 in
a $106-billion deal.
