WebMD layoffs affect Atlanta office

• WebMD

WebMD Health Corp., the parent company of the health website where people first turn to worry themselves sick about what's most likely a rash but is DEFINITELY the plague, has instituted companywide layoffs which include workers at its Midtown Atlanta offices.

The New York-based company today cut 250 employees, or 14 percent of its total workforce, as part of a "comprehensive program to streamline its operations, reduce costs and better focus its resources on increasing user engagement, improving customer satisfaction and driving innovation." The Atlanta Business Chronicle, the first to report the news, says the company, which has been hit by competition and cutbacks in pharmaceutical companies' advertising spending, expects the program to save $45 million each year.

A WebMD spokeswoman told CL via email that 62 Atlanta employees were affected by the cuts. An insider source tells CL that affected employees were given severance and temporary extensions of their healthcare plans.