K24, which is owned by Mediamax Limited, is set to retrench 150 employees starting November 2019.In a memo written to all employees, the media house stated that due to tough economic times, they won’t be able to cater for the salaries of their entire stuff, thus the tough decision of retrenchment.
A number of employees have already been given termination letters and generous packages which are in the tune of Ksh800,000 each.
The retrenchment and restructuring will affect even the likes of Betty Kyalo and Anne Kiguta who are among the highest paid news anchors in the station. Betty Kyalo earns a sum of Ksh 800,000 per month while Ann Kiguta’s pay is in the neighbourhood of Ksh 600,000. It’s believed that the two, among others, have been notified that their salaries will be sliced by almost half.
Ann Kiguta may be forced out of the station after viewership of her punchline program plummeted. Betty Kyalo’s influence is still significant but not as much as it was when she was at KTN.
The retrenchment at Mediamax will cut across all stations but the first to be notified were K24 staff.
Mediamax relied heavily on income from betting firms, particularly Sportpesa and betin, their exit was not only a blow to the Uhuru owned company but also to all media stations in the country.