HBO and Max are both hit with layoffs as Warner Bros. Discovery continues its downsizing efforts.
Warner Bros. Discovery's Journey
The company have been downsizing its employee population since the formation of the merged company in April 2022. A month after, the company announced that streaming service HBO Max will be rebranded as Max.
Since then, the company lost around 1.8 million streaming subscribers from April to June. The subscriber drop was attributed to the fact that subscribers from HBO and Discovery+ could have cancel these services and switch to rebranded Max.
Regardless, the company is confidents with their continuous effort to boost their brands after gaining a $1.7 billion in cash flow for Q2. Variety also reported that the company will be increasing its post-merger synergy target to more than $5 billion within three years.
Warner Bros. Discovery Layoffs
Last June, Warner Bros. Discovery downsized its domestic cable group. The layoff was able to cut down around 100 employees from Discovery and Turner outlets. The merged company is set to do more rounds of cost-cutting strategy for its other divisions for this year.
With the recent company layoff, an insider told Variety that the cut affected a double-digit number of employees. Moreover, the content division team was not included in the layoff.
Aside from Warner Bros. Discovery, other entertainment giants have been cutting off employees for the past months. This includes Disney who emptied 7,000 positions in an effort to re-calibrate its earning potential.
