Amazon cuts 35% of its entertainment workforce and launches ads on Prime

Amazon’s entertainment divisions have been sharply scaled back as several hundred employees at Prime Video, Amazon’s MGM Studios and its Twitch streaming platform have been laid off, reducing the company’s workforce by 35%, Deadline reports.

Prime Video, Amazon Studios Layoffs To Affect “Several Hundred” Workers, SVP Mike Hopkins Tells Staff https://t.co/pX8XJFsfMZ

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) January 10, 2024

Mike Hopkins, head of entertainment at Amazon, told employees that the layoffs were the result of tough decisions made to align investments with customer interests and long-term business success.

This redundancy announcement joins the many other employees who have lost their jobs at the company in recent months, with Amazon announcing 9,000 job cuts last March, following a previous round of redundancies that reduced its workforce by more than 27,000 employees since Amazon’s hiring boom in the wake of the pandemic.

Amazon’s decision to lay off employees follows broader economic challenges that have forced companies to rethink their structure, and this situation affects not only the company’s employees, but also Amazon Prime Video subscribers!

Amazon Prime Video subscribers will see a change in service on January 29, as ads will be introduced to the Standard package. An additional monthly fee of $2.99 will be charged to those who wish to continue enjoying an ad-free experience.

Amazon has said that Prime Video and Twitch employees who leave the company benefit from a severance package that includes transitional benefits and help finding another job.