Amazon Initiates Fresh Layoffs, Fires Hundreds From Prime & MGM Divisions

Amazon is once again cutting its personnel. Following the layoff of thousands of staff last year, the e-commerce behemoth has announced a new round of job cuts affecting ‘several hundred' employees in its streaming and studio businesses, notably its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions.

In an internal memo circulated to Amazon workers on Wednesday, Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, stated that the business has done rigorous reviews, identifying areas where it might reduce or discontinue spending to improve platform performance, according to India Today.

"Throughout the past year, we've looked at nearly every aspect of our business with an eye towards improving our ability to deliver even more breakthrough movies, TV shows, and live sports in a personalised, easy to use entertainment experience for our global customers," read the memo by Hopkins. 

"As a result, we've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact. As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organisation,” he added. 

Although Amazon has not released the exact number of employees affected by this round of layoffs, the company told IndieWire that the impact will be limited to a tiny portion of Hopkins' staff. 

Notably, Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion in 2022. The corporation links the recent layoffs to issues resulting from the acquisition, noting that the deal's continued impact influenced the decision. The most recent round of Amazon layoffs comes with an announcement by its subsidiary, Twitch, that it intends to lay off around 35 per cent of its personnel, affecting over 500 individuals.

The platform also announced its pullout from South Korea the previous month, citing high network costs. In terms of overall layoffs, Amazon eliminated almost 27,000 positions last year, coinciding with a wave of layoffs in Silicon Valley and global locations.