Amazon slashes jobs at Twitch, MGM and Prime Video

Amazon is to axe a whole bunch of employees throughout its subsidiaries Twitch, Prime Video and MGM studios.

More than 500 Twitch staff – a 3rd of the streamer’s workforce – might be laid off, based on a word from chief govt Dan Clancy.

Amazon mentioned a number of hundred staff at Prime Video and movie studio MGM may even lose their jobs this week.

The tech large laid off 27,000 employees members in 2023 regardless of bumper income.

Twitch was initially arrange for players to observe and share video gameplay on-line. It was purchased by Amazon in 2014 for $970m (£585m on the time).

In an e mail to staff, Mr Clancy mentioned he was taking the “painful step to reduce our headcount” to “build a more sustainable business”.

He added that the corporate paid out $1bn to streamers in 2023, however had “conservative predictions of how we expect to grow in the future.”

Amazon made $9.9bn revenue in July to September, based on its most up-to-date earnings report. That was up from $2.9bn in the identical interval in 2022.

In an e mail despatched to employees at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, senior vp of the division Mike Hopkins wrote: “We’ve identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investments and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.”

Mr Hopkins added that it was a “difficult decision to make”.

The e mail indicated that job losses have an effect on employees within the US and all over the world.

Amazon purchased the hundred-year-old MGM Studios for $8.45bn in 2021.

In December, it introduced it might begin placing adverts on Prime Video from 5 February 2024.

The reductions at Amazon are the newest in a protracted sequence of job cuts within the tech sector, which had expanded quickly as individuals more and more turned to digital companies in the course of the pandemic, earlier than contracting as that enthusiasm waned.

According to US profession consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the tech sector reduce 168,032 jobs in 2023 – up 73% in comparison with 2022.