South by Southwest canceled its annual event in Austin, Texas because of the coronavirus, and said that because of the cancellation it would lay off about a third of its full-time employees, as first reported by Wall Street Journal reporter Elizabeth Findell and confirmed by a spokesperson to Business Insider.
"Due to the City of Austin's unprecedented and unexpected cancellation of the SXSW 2020 events in March, SXSW has been rigorously reviewing our operations, and we are in the unimaginable position of reducing our workforce. Today we said goodbye to approximately one-third of our full-time staff," the spokesperson said.
South by Southwest has around 175 full-time employees who work on the event year-round, the Wall Street Journal reported, so the move will cut jobs for around 58 people.