The news coming out of Bloomberg is both good and bad.
While a big round of layoffs is expected to hit this week, the number of pink slips handed out will likely be lower than previously expected.
The financial news and data giant will cut 80 people, or about 3.3 percent of its 2,400 newsroom employees, as early as Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the plans.
The Post first reported Aug. 19 that Bloomberg was gearing up to cut as many as 100 employees by Labor Day — but that number has been whittled down, sources said.
A Bloomberg spokesman declined to comment.
While most of the layoffs will be in the US, they will not be focused on one particular coverage area. Staffers in the DC bureau have been on pins and needles, fearing that they would bear the brunt of the cuts.
The planned layoffs follow Bloomberg’s aggressive push into political and government reporting, with the company bringing in heavy hitters such as Mark Halperin and John Heilemann — who pull in more than $1 million a year each, sources said — to host a political news show.
But a year after founder Mike Bloomberg returned to the helm, the company is renewing the focus on its money-making business: the financial data and news that feed its $20,000-a-year terminals.
The company’s staffing level is expected to return to around 2,400 by the end of the year, after it hires reporters for a “fast commentary” desk that adds context to breaking news, and a morning briefing, both expected to debut this fall.
Layoffs are rare — but not unprecedented — at a company that has long stressed loyalty above all else. In 2013, Bloomberg trimmed 50 journalists who wrote about arts and sports, along with much of its projects and investigations team.