Nearly 200 employees who work for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios in Chicago’s West Side will lose their jobs starting next month.
Layoffs for 183 people will start Dec. 11, the last day of production, according to the Chicago Tribune. Layoffs should be finished by April 1, the expiration date of the studio's lease.
Harpo’s four-building campus on West Washington Boulevard was sold to Chicago developer Sterling Bay Companies. The company announced the sale in March. Harpo Studios will relocate to the West Coast.
Winfrey first came to Chicago in 1984 to host the morning talk show, "A.M. Chicago." A month later, the show was No. 1 in the market, and renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 1985.
