CMI/Cotter Group Cuts 23 Staffers, Including Co-Founder

NC-based motorsports marketing agency CMI/Cotter Group "cut 23 staffers this week," including Cotter Group co-Founder Terry Boyce, which is "another indication of the racing industry's slump," according to Erik Spanberg of the BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE, who notes the firm is owned by Clear Channel Entertainment. While Clear Channel "declines to reveal specific employment numbers," sources said that CMI/Cotter employs "25 to 45 staffers." Spanberg notes that CMI/Cotter clients Motorola and DaimlerChrysler's Dodge and Mercedes-Benz "all departed during the past year," leaving Lowe's Cos. as the top remaining client at the agency. But Clear Channel VP/PR Howard Schacter said that "the reductions aren't related to slowing NASCAR sponsorships or the flagging economy." Schacter "attributes the moves to consolidation of CMI's various marketing offices" (BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE, 12/7 issue).