Hollywood giant also shutters studio, ends workshop
Following the colossal media merger earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has vowed to cut costs by $3 billion.
As a result, Warner Bros. Television Group eliminated 125 jobs (26% of its headcount) on Tuesday, IndieWire reported. That tally includes 82 employees laid off across the scripted, unscripted and animation divisions, as well as 43 vacant positions that will go unfilled. The cuts come on the heels of layoffs at HBO and HBO Max in August, with an estimated 70 staffers let go, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Burbank, CA-based company is also shutting down Stage 13 – its shortform digital content studio – with projects in the works to be absorbed into Warner Bros. Television, Yahoo! Finance reported. Additionally, the media conglomerate is ending the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, which has served as a pipeline for diverse artists for more than 40 years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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In September, Warner Bros. Discovery restructured its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) group with senior vice president Karen Horne, who formerly oversaw pipeline programs under WarnerMedia, promoted to oversee DEI for the North America region, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Major brands throughout the United States, especially in California, have been trimming their workforces ahead of an economic downturn. Last month, DocuSign announced it will lay off 9% of its workforce as part of a major restructuring plan, according to an SEC filing. Meanwhile, Gap Inc. plans to cut about 500 corporate jobs in San Francisco, New York and Asia, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Meta (formerly Facebook) is giving many of its 83,553 employees a month to apply for different positions within the company, the Wall Street Journal also reported. Similarly, Google has informed about 50 employees (roughly half of those employed at the firm’s startup incubator Area 120) they need to find a new internal role within three months if they want to remain employed.
Twilio announced it would lay off 11% of its workforce as part of a major restructuring plan, according to an SEC filing. That same week, Patreon CEO Jack Conte announced in a blog post that the company had laid off 17% of its workforce.
In August, Snap Inc, parent company of Snapchat, planned to lay off approximately 20% of its more than 6,400 employees, which comes out to roughly 1,280 people, The Verge reported. Apple laid off roughly 100 contract-based recruiters one month after announcing plans to slow down hiring. Calm.com has also laid off 20% of its staff, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Sweetgreen announced 5% of its support center workforce will be laid off, CNBC reported. Additionally, the company is downsizing to a smaller office building to lower its operating expenses. Groupon also laid off more than 500 employees, about 15% of its workforce, TechCrunch reported. The merchant development, sales, recruiting, engineering, product and marketing teams were all impacted.
Fender laid off roughly 300 employees, ranging from senior management to production line workers, have been laid off, Guitar.com reported. That followed Robinhood announcing plans to lay off 23% of its workforce. In April, the Menlo Park, CA-based company reduced its headcount by 9% after company shares hit a new low, CNN Business reported.