Amazon is making cuts to Prime Video and MGM Studios, laying off “several hundreds” of employees, according to a memo obtained by TechCrunch.
The Information first reported the layoffs.
In an email, Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of the division, announced the reduction with the aim to “reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.”
Amazon has started informing the affected workers in the U.S. and will notify most other regions by the end of this week. The company is providing them with packages that include a separation payment, transitional benefits and external career transition support.
“Our prioritization of initiatives that we know will move the needle, along with our continued investments in programming, marketing and product, positions our business for an even stronger future,” Hopkins added.
Almost a year after acquiring MGM for $8.5 billion in 2022, Amazon launched Amazon MGM Studios Distribution to license Amazon Originals and other titles to streaming services and cable companies in an effort to boost revenue.
This is the latest round of layoffs at Amazon, adding to the significant list of cuts in 2023, like the hundreds of employees in the Alexa division, over 180 roles in Amazon’s gaming sector as well as the thousands impacted across Amazon Stores businesses, its AWS cloud unit and advertising arm, among other areas of the company. At the end of 2022 and continuing through 2023, Amazon laid off 27,000 jobs, or 8% of its corporate workforce, marking the most layoffs in the tech giant’s history.
The cuts also arrive a few weeks before Prime Video will introduce ads on the streaming service. Prime customers — who are already paying $14.99 per month for the service — must pay an additional $3 per month if they want to remove the ads.
