Amazon starts the year with layoffs across its Prime Video and MGM divisions, as it looks to “move the needle”.
The man in charge of Amazon’s Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions has got the year off to a bit of a start, by announcing hundreds of job cuts in the time honoured fashion: by email.
As per IndieWire, an email was sent from Mike Hopkins, the senior vice president of the division in question. It’s written in corporate nu-speak of course, talking about how “our industry continues to evolve quickly and it’s important that we prioritize our investments for the long-term success of our business”.
There’s a sentence where you know what’s coming next.
“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”, he chirps. Then he hits people with it. “As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization”.
Specifics of the job cuts have not been revealed, and against the size of Amazon’s workforce, it’s clearly not a huge number. But still: tell that to the hundreds of people affected.
If anything, it’s been surprising it’s taken Amazon so long to do this. The modern way is to go a lot quicker. It concluded its purchase of MGM back in 2022, and Hopkins signs off his email talking about the difficult of the decision. Furthermore, he adds that “It is hard to say goodbye to talented Amazonians who’ve made meaningful contributions on behalf of our customers, team and business. Thank you for your dedication and work”.
Hopkins added that he’s looking towards plans that “move the needle”. Don’t know quite what the needle is, but he very much plans to move it.
As ever, thoughts with all of those affected by this. This aside too, it’s hard to knock what a good custodian Amazon has been of MGM thus far, and its commitment to theatrical releases has broadened. Still, for hundreds of people at he company, it’s a crappy, crappy start to the year.
