Chief Executive Michael Lynton and studio co-chair Amy Pascal announced job cuts of 3.5 per cent of the studio's staff worldwide in a staff memo sent out Tuesday afternoon.

"Our studio remains profitable, but over the past five months, the deepening global financial crisis has begun to impact some of our lines of business, such as television syndication, DVDs and advertising sales," they said in the memo.

"These economic effects have, regretfully, made it necessary to take the step we had hoped to avoid, and worked hard to minimize: reducing our headcount."

Less than 150 people will be laid off in the US, most in Los Angeles, along with less than 100 people overseas.

Nearly 100 open positions will not be filled.