Kristin Dolan on layoffs
From Centennial CEO Speaker Series | Kristin Dolan '15, CEO AMC Networks · · Long Island University
“When I first came in, we did a layoff of over 220 people. Those are really tough times because, especially in a public company, it's my job to protect the business, but there are humans involved and those decisions get really challenging.”
On , Kristin Dolan, Chief Executive Officer at AMC NETWORKS INC, spoke about layoffs during Centennial CEO Speaker Series | Kristin Dolan '15, CEO AMC Networks on Long Island University.
About Kristin Dolan
Kristin Dolan, CEO of AMC Networks, participated in the second installment of Long Island University’s Centennial CEO Speaker Series on April 6, 2026, at the LIU Post campus. During the event, Dolan discussed her career and the challenges she has faced in leadership roles. She described the difficulty of overseeing a cable company during two back-to-back hurricanes, noting that two million customers lost service and 25,000 employees lost their homes. Dolan also spoke about her early tenure at AMC Networks, stating that she oversaw a layoff of over 220 people, which she described as a tough decision that required balancing the protection of the business with the impact on employees. Dolan commented on the company culture she encountered at AMC Networks, saying that employees were “so nice to each other that it actually negatively impacted the business” and that the company lacked regular performance reviews. She also contrasted AMC Networks’ production budgets with those of larger streaming competitors, stating that while Amazon or Netflix may spend $15-20 million per episode on a show, AMC Networks aims to keep even its most expensive episodes under $8 million. Dolan highlighted the film “Good Boy,” a horror movie shot on an iPhone from a dog’s perspective, which she said earned $3 million at the box office.