Days after Yahoo’s job cuts, TechCrunch confirms that CBS Interactive has also laid off around 20% of staff, affecting CNET and Last.fm among other digital media assets. Erick Schonfeld estimates the total number of cuts at around 275-ish

Om Malik says: “God, it is starting to get really really depressing!”

“At the time of their merger, I wrote that buying CNET made a lot of sense for CBS. Now, looking back in the rear-view mirror, it doesn’t seem like such a good idea. Of course, this re-org could be the first step in many [CBS Interactive CEO] Quincy [Smith] and his team have to take in order to shake up the accumulated dust from the old CNET. By cutting jobs and doing a management overhaul, they might be doing just that – though at this time, it is hard not to feel sad for the folks who got a lump of coal delivered this Christmas.”

Jemima Kiss picked up on the TechCrunch story to report on the 20 job losses at Last.fm that are part and parcel of the CBS cuts, calling it “a real blow to London’s tech poster boy“.

Trust Paul Carr for a gallows humour take on the timing of the cuts:

CBS1: “Hey, when should we tell loads of people at Last.fm that they’re fired?”

CBS2: “Day after the Christmas party?”

CBS1: “Awesome!”

Facebook bailout in the offing?

Nicholas Carlson at Silicon Alley Insider reports on VC firm Accel Partners’ success in raising more than $1 billion, part of which it will go to creating the Accel Growth Fund targeted at late-stage companies which need room for growth and cushion. Given Facebook is the highest profile company in its portfolio, Carlson speculates:

Basically, Facebook needs a hero. And it’s gotta be soon.

Enter Accel partner and Facebook board member Jim Breyer, carrying about $480 million in cash.

Did his firm launch its first late-stage fund ever for a Facebook bailout? A chance to take a larger and more controlling stake yet in a company that just passed the 130 million user mark?

We don’t know. But such opportunies are ‘one of the positives of these difficult, uncertain economic times,’ says Accel partner Ranzetta.”

In a possibly unrelated story, Mashable and others carry news of Washington Post CEO Don Graham joining Facebook’s board.

Adam Ostrow says:

“The obvious conclusion to draw from this appointment is that Facebook has ambitions as a media company, and bringing on someone with extensive experience in that department – Graham has been CEO of the Post since 1991 – could be helpful. Graham joins other Facebook board members Jim Breyer and Peter Thiel – early investors in the company – as well as Netscape and Ning founder Marc Andreessen.

So, what knowledge might Graham bring to the table that could be helpful? The Post – which also publishes Newsweek – has held up surprisingly well versus some of its old media counterparts, in part because of its timely adoption of new media, and Graham likely has some perspective on how Facebook can help old media transition into the digital age.”

Light relief with The Shorty Awards
It was only a matter of time before some bright sparks created a Twitter-related awards thing. The Shorty Awards seeks to recognize the best producers of short content in 2008 (where short = 140 characters or less, on Twitter). Anyone can nominate as many people for as many categories they’d like until midnight December 31st. Borrowing from the now established Webby Awards, winners of the Shortys will have to limit their acceptance speeches to 140 characters.