Jennifer Salke
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Amazon Studios is the latest entertainment company to be hit by a round of layoffs.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Amazon’s Prime Video has reduced its workforce by 100 people in the technology team and elsewhere. Also affected are a small number of employees of MGM, who came to Amazon as part of the $8.5 billion acquisition of the famed film and television studio.
“Like many companies, we closely monitored economic conditions and our organizational needs, and made the decision to adjust resources,” an Amazon spokesman said in a statement to THR. “As a result, a small number of roles will be eliminated on some teams. We will support the affected employees during this transition and thank them for the work they have done on behalf of our customers.”
The layoffs come as Amazon Studios, run by boss Jennifer Salke, who took MGM’s film and television under her purview late last year, is under increasing pressure to deliver breakout hits after years of free spending. As THR previously reported, Amazon’s major swings – including Lord of the Rings and Citadel – have been hampered by confusion and frustration as insiders complained about a lack of vision at the studio.
Rings of Power, the most expensive television show in history, had just a 37 percent domestic completion rate, according to sources, and Citadel – which debuts Friday – currently has a rating of just 53 percent among Rotten Tomatoes critics. The global spy thriller was a frequent talking point internally as a troubled creative vision that required reshoots pushed the Russo brothers’ show to a budget estimated at $300 million. The series, which Salke has greenlit as perhaps her biggest swing since arriving on Amazon, is set to launch multiple local-language spin-offs and be the cornerstone of an original franchise for the streamer.
The job cuts at Amazon Studios come as CEO Andy Jassy said in March it would add an additional 9,000 employees to the previously announced 18,000 jobs cut at the company. Amazon Prime Video’s workforce includes around 7,000 employees worldwide, more than half of whom joined under Salke. Since replacing Roy Price in 2018, Salke has reorganized her executive team multiple times, causing showrunners to become confused with the streamer’s business as well as internal tensions.
Amazon Studios is the latest entertainment company to be hit by layoffs that were the result of economic headwinds. Disney, for example, is in the midst of several rounds of cuts as the media industry braces for a possible WGA strike and other economic factors.