Amazon is expected to lay off several hundred staff within its streaming and production divisions.
An internal email published Wednesday, Amazon’s senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, Mike Hopkins, said the company needed to “prioritise its investments for the long-term success of the business”.
Staff in the United States were informed on Wednesday, with further announcements expected to be made to global employees before the end of the week.
“Our industry continues to evolve quickly and it’s important that we prioritize our investments for the long-term success of our business, while relentlessly focusing on what we know matters most to our customers. Throughout the past year, we’ve looked at nearly every aspect of our business with an eye towards improving our ability to deliver even more breakthrough movies, TV shows, and live sports in a personalized, easy to use entertainment experience for our global customers,” said Hopkins
“As a result, we’ve identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact. As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization.”
Amazon has recently made more cuts to its Alexa voice assistant division and has previously reduced staff numbers in technology development.
Next month, Amazon will introduce “limited advertisements” for Prime Video subscribers, those wanting to avoid them will be required to pay an additional fee.
