Layoffs hit HBO Max as 70 staff lose their jobs – TechCrunch

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The rumored layoffs are coming true: Warner Bros. Discovery, the newly merged guardian firm to HBO, is slicing personnel prices.

Fourteen p.c of employees underneath HBO and HBO Max chief content material officer Casey Bloys will probably be laid off, impacting 70 staff. The New York Instances reviews that unscripted and live-action household programming for HBO Max, the streaming service, have been most affected. Different cuts impacted HBO Max’s casting, acquisitions and worldwide departments. Unscripted exhibits which can be thought-about profitable are anticipated to proceed.

This restructuring comes after AT&T’s WarnerMedia formally merged with Discovery, Inc. in April. Below phrases of the settlement, AT&T acquired $43 billion in money and debt. However the firm nonetheless has a debt load of $53 billion and is attempting to lower prices to avoid wasting $3 billion in 2023.

In main tech mergers, layoffs are anticipated to remove redundancies. However followers of HBO Max programming have been enraged by the rumors of those layoffs, which started circulating in earnest a number of weeks in the past, worrying that unique scripted exhibits like “Hacks,” “Our Flag Means Dying” or “The Flight Attendant” can be cancelled. To this point, HBO Max’s unique scripted exhibits haven’t been impacted.

It is smart why followers are involved, although. As these rumors circulated, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav introduced that the corporate would shelve the DC Comics adaptation “Batgirl,” regardless that the movie was already completed and value at the least $70 million. Zaslav added that the sequel to an animated Scooby Doo film wouldn’t be launched both. To make issues worse, viewers seen that HBO Max had quietly eliminated six unique films from its service, which featured expertise like Anne Hathaway, Seth Rogen and Cole Sprouse.

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It’s already been a tough 12 months for the newly merged media mammoth. Warner Bros. Discovery additionally pulled the plug on its CNN+ streaming service only one month after launch, costing the corporate $300 million.