The major cost-cutting drive at Warner Bros. Discovery is continuing, as the company is reportedly laying off around 70 workers across HBO and HBO Max. Most of the cuts are on the side of the streaming service, according to Deadline.
The layoffs account for around 14 percent of staffers across the two divisions. HBO Max’s nonfiction team is being downsized, which isn’t surprising given the influx of reality and documentary programming from the Discovery side of the business. Leadership may believe it’s redundant for HBO Max to have its own reality division. As Variety notes, kids’ programming will be less of a priority for HBO Max too, as there have been cuts to the live-action family originals department.
Although there had been rumors that the ax would fall on many HBO Max originals as part of budget cuts and a changing strategies, that’s not exactly that case, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The publication notes that leadership at the streaming service is expanding its lineup of originals, albeit with fewer non-fiction and live-action family projects. No projects were canceled as part of today’s layoffs.
Warner Bros. Discovery recently canned Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, movies that were lined up as HBO Max exclusives. According to reports, the company shelved the films in favor of tax breaks.
In addition, HBO Max’s casting and international teams have been downsized. The team that handles acquisitions of third-party content has been affected too. Meanwhile, layoffs are said to be expected in other Warner Bros. Discovery divisions. Engadget has contacted HBO Max for comment.
WarnerMedia and Discovery merged in April to form Warner Bros. Discovery. An effort to slash costs got underway quickly, with the company announcing it would shut down CNN+ only a few weeks after that streaming service launched. Next year, the company will merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single platform. It’s not yet clear what the unified streaming service will be called, though it may retain the HBO Max name or, according to one report, it could simply be named “Max.”
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