RETAILING

Home Shopping to Cut Staff by 4%: The Home Shopping Network video retailer is laying off nearly 200 workers in a cost-cutting move after losing $18.5 million so far this year. The layoffs, combined with other job cuts and attrition over the past 18 months, reduces the St. Petersburg, Fla., company’s staff by about 1,000, leaving the company with about 4,000 workers. Nearly every department is affected. Employees who lost their jobs were being told Thursday and Friday that business was down and that the company had to trim costs and expenses, spokeswoman Louise Cleary said. The company attributed its losses, $8.8 million in the first quarter and $9.7 million in the second quarter, to a new merchandising plan that it has yet to fully implement.