Live Entertainment Denies 3 Executives Are Leaving

Live Entertainment Inc., a Van Nuys videocassette distributor and retailer, has denied published reports that its president and chief operating officer, Devendra Mishra, and two other high-ranking executives will soon leave the company.

A recent article in the trade newspaper Daily Variety said unidentified sources expected the executives to leave Live as part of the company’s continuing consolidation. But David Bishop, senior vice president and general manager of Live Home Video, called the story “erroneous.”

Besides Mishra, the Daily Variety story said David Campbell, Live’s senior vice president of administration, and Bob Denton, vice president of finance, would soon depart Live.

Bishop confirmed that five employees in public relations, accounting and administration have been laid off and that further job cuts are being considered. He said with only the home video and retail units remaining after the recent sale of the Lieberman Enterprises subsidiary, a large corporate staff isn’t needed.

Bishop said the layoffs were not related to financial troubles at Live, which reported a third-quarter loss of $40 million.