Register

    Amazon cutting several hundred positions across Prime Video and MGM Studios unit

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments673 Views
    This March 19, 2018 file photo shows Amazon's Prime Video streaming app on an iPad in Baltimore. Amazon is cutting several hundred positions across its Prime Video and MGM Studios unit. Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in a note to employees, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, that the staff cuts come as the company identified areas to reduce or discontinue investments while boosting its investment in areas that provide the most impact. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

    By Michelle Chapman

    --

    Amazon is cutting several hundred positions across its Prime Video and MGM Studios unit.

    Last month Amazon said that Prime Video users would start seeing ads on movies and television shows starting on January 29, setting a date for an announcement it made back in September.

    Prime members who want to keep their movies and TV shows ad-free will have to pay an additional $2.99 per month.

    Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in a note to employees that the company is boosting investment in areas with the most impact, while stepping back from others.

    Amazon has cut thousands of jobs after a hiring surge during the pandemic. In March, Amazon announced that it planned to lay off 9,000 employees. That was on top of the 18,000 employees the tech giant said that it would lay off in January 2023.

    Job cuts are occurring elsewhere in the company this week.

    Twitch, the video game streaming platform acquired by Amazon a decade ago for close to $1 billion, is laying off more than 500 employees as the company tries to turn the tremendously expensive division profitable.

    Twitch CEO Dan Clancy in an email to employees said that even with cost cuts and growing efficiency, the platform "is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business."

    "For some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we're at today," Clancy wrote.

    Departing employees at Amazon Prime will receive a separation payment and other benefits like job placement support.

    In May Amazon said that it would distribute its original films and TV shows, like "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," to media outlets outside its Prime Video service for the first time.

    That content would be licensed via a new unit called Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, which expands the number of titles currently offered by Hollywood studio MGM. In 2022, the e-commerce-behemoth-turned-media-giant closed its acquisition of MGM — which houses more than 4,000 film titles and 17,000 TV episodes — for $8.5 billion.

    Michelle Chapman is an AP business writer

    Tags:AmazonAmazon MGM StudiosPrime Video



    DirecTV calls off acquisition of rival Dish, possibly ending a yearslong pursuit

    Friday, November 22, 2024
    Dish Network satellite dishes are shown at an apartment complex in Palo Alto, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

    DirecTV is calling off its planned acquisition of rival Dish after the offer was rejected by bond holders at that company.

    The deal was reliant on Dish bond holders agreeing to trade in the debt they held for debt in the new company, a swap that would have cost them about $1.6 billion, collectively.

    The retreat by DirecTV this week may end a years-long effort by the company to acquire both Dish and Sling after it announced the bid in September.

    DirecTV was looking to acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that included a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt. The deal was contingent on several factors, including regulatory approvals and bondholders writing off debt related to Dish.

    "While we believed a combination of DirecTV and Dish would have benefited all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed exchange terms were necessary to protect DirecTV's balance sheet and our operational flexibility," DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement.

    The prospect of a DirecTV-Dish combo has long been rumored, and reported talks resurfaced over the years. And the two almost merged more than two decades ago — but the Federal Communications Commission blocked the deal valued at the time at $18.5 billion deal, citing antitrust concerns.

    The pay-for-TV market has shifted significantly since. As more and more consumers tune into online streaming platforms, demand for more traditional satellite entertainment continues to shrink.

    DirecTV says that it will continue to invest in next-generation streaming platforms and offer new packaging options while integrating content from live TV alongside direct-to-consumer... Read More

    MySHOOT Profiles


    Add A Comment