According to CNBC, people familiar with the matter said that Warner Bros. Discovery will lay off 70 people on its streaming platform HBO Max, mainly from the reality department, casting and acquisitions of the unit.
The layoffs, which represent 14% of the streaming platform’s workforce, are part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s efforts to eliminate overlapping services from the merger of HBO Max and Discovery+ into one streaming service.
An HBO Max spokesman declined to comment.
In April, Discovery completed its $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia. Many of the employees who lost their jobs were members of teams led by former HBO Max chief content officer Kevin Reilly, two people familiar with the matter said. Reilly, already unfit for Warner Bros. Discovery’s new structure, left the company in 2020.
CEO David Zaslav has combined HBO Max and Discovery+ into a new streaming service that will launch in the US in mid-2023. The Discovery Channel will provide reality programming for the product so that HBO Max’s reality division doesn’t need to exist, people familiar with the matter said. HBO also often works directly with casting directors rather than using insiders, and has phased out many so-called pay-to-play deals, where its original acquisition arm acquires licensed films.
Others affected include commercial, programming and production divisions, one of the people said.
But no shows will be canceled because of the layoffs, people familiar with the matter said. The layoffs are not specific to HBO Max series or movies.
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