The big picture: Few industries are immune to the devastation brought about by the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak but some are being hit particularly hard. The entertainment category is one such sector as sports fans, music lovers and conference attendees alike are adjusting to a spring that is void of what they love the most. For ticket exchange employees, the situation is far more grim as it is impacting their ability to put food on the table and pay the bills.

With virtually every spectator sport, concert and comedy show in the US having been postponed or canceled outright, it comes as little surprise that the ticketing venues that service these events are also suffering. Even the Olympics were recently postponed until 2021.

In a statement issued to ESPN, StubHub said it has made the difficult but responsible decision to furlough a portion of its employee base. StubHub didn't say how many people were out of work although according to an internal e-mail viewed by Celebrity Access, the company furloughed roughly 67 percent of its workforce. That leaves StubHub with fewer than 150 of its estimated 450 employees until June at the earliest.

TicketNetwork, another major player in the ticket resale industry, issued the following statement to ESPN:

"As an organization, once we saw how the pandemic would affect our industry, TicketNetwork started making adjustments and cost cutting measures to ensure the stability of our organization. We continue to support our employees, customers and partners with full capabilities. We are doing everything we can to ensure the organization is ready to thrive when these unprecedented times are over."

SeatGeek and Ticketmaster said that as of writing, they have not laid off or furloughed any employees. The former did note, however, that they have seen some of the biggest teams and leagues in the world already make pay cuts to avoid layoffs.

"On the entertainment side, we have seen some major promoters go as far as to lay off or furlough more than 75 percent of their staff," SeatGeek added.

Masthead credit: Africa Studio, TK 1980