Succumbing to the same economic pressures as the companies it tracks, CNBC, the 24-hour global financial news channel, and its website announced it will be laying off more than 40 employees and launching a reorganization of its internet operation.

The business broadcaster once boasted in corporate literature that more than half the viewers of its Business Day show “are CEOs, COOs, CFOs, owners or partners.” It has now joined the ranks of many such people in downsizing a company that grew in tandem with the market’s expansion.

Both CNBC and CNBC.com are unit’s of General Electric’s NBC division, which announced in January plans to cut about 10 per cent of its 6,000 employees. The cable channel and the website fired 4 per cent and 26 per cent of their staffs, respectively, with CNBC.com planning to eliminate everything but its markets coverage, according to a CNBC spokesman.

The layoffs follow similar measures taken in January by cable news channel CNN, which fired 10 per cent of its staff or about 400 people. CNN is a unit of the newly-merged AOL Time Warner media giant.