Getty
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Prime Video Southeast Asia is downsizing its original team in Singapore and moving to a “leaner operating model” as part of a global wave of layoffs announced earlier this week.
Deadline has obtained an internal memo from Gaurav Gandhi, vice president of Asia Pacific at Prime Video (see below), confirming that the streamer is “reducing investments in Southeast Asia (SEA) and moving to a leaner local operating model in order to achieve this to support SEA areas.” .”
In effect, this means an exit from the local originals business and a significant downsizing in the Singapore office, with almost all employees leaving this area of the business. We assume that programs and films from the region that start or are in production this year and 2025 will not be affected. They continue to be filtered through, but no new originals arrive.
Instead, Prime Video Southeast Asia will introduce a model for licensing local and national content – particularly from South Korea, the Japanese anime market and India – alongside its US offering. We expect approximately 25 employees to remain in Singapore and work on Prime Video across the Southeast Asia region.
Gandhi's statement to Star confirmed that David Simonsen, director of Prime Video in Southeast Asia, would continue to lead the reduced team in Singapore and “work even more closely with our centralized business teams.”
When he joined Prime Video in September 2022, Simonsen was given responsibility for business and marketing activities in the region, with a focus on Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Gandhi added that “our investment focus in our other APAC territories, including Japan and India,” will not change.
Earlier this week, Mike Hopkins, SVP of Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, told employees that “several hundred positions” would be eliminated across the company. Since then, there have been cuts to Twitch's theatrical, scripted and gaming divisions, and international cuts were widely expected.
Amazon's strategy shift in Southeast Asia is something of a U-turn from the one Gandhi unveiled at the APOS conference last year when he was promoted to vice president in February last year and moved from Mumbai to Singapore. At the time, he said Prime Video Southeast would look to expand its offerings of local language content.
The Singapore office was at an earlier stage of development than other APAC territories such as India and Japan as Amazon's shopping and quick delivery infrastructure was not yet in place in several territories, but Gandhi had said: “We are starting now with David's team “here in building Southeast Asia.”
For her part, the head of Indian originals, Aparna Purohit, had expanded her focus with the specific aim of creating content from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Despite the change in strategy, she remains in office because, as we know, India is an important focus for Amazon. Thai Originals boss Darin Darakananda is also not affected by the layoffs.
Read Gandhi's note in full here
Team,
We continue to review our business to ensure we focus our investments on what we know is most important to our customers and to the long-term success of our business. Today we made the decision to discontinue some programs and initiatives and realign our international organization to focus on the countries and regions that drive the greatest growth for our service. In APAC, we are reducing investments in Southeast Asia (SEA) and moving to a leaner local operating model to support the SEA territories. David Simonsen will continue to lead this leaner SEA team based in Singapore and work even more closely with our centralized business teams as we continue to win new customers in the region. Our investment focus in our other APAC territories, including Japan and India, does not change.
Due to these changes, we have eliminated some roles within the SEA team. I am writing to let you know that all affected employees in the SEA team have been notified. We recognize that this news is difficult. We encourage you to contact My HR if you have any questions and remember that our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available 24/7 for free and confidential help.
As Mike mentioned, we remain very optimistic about the long-term future of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, where we are making significant steps and investments toward our long-term vision of making Prime Video the entertainment destination of choice for customers worldwide. I want to thank you all for the hard work you do every day. If you have any questions, please contact me or the HR support above.
-Gaurav