Amazon employees at Wondery, its podcast division/ studio, will see at least a hundred layoffs as the audio business undergoes restructuring. The objective is to streamline operations. About a 110 affected employees have reportedly already been notified.
Steve Boom, VP-Audio, Twitch and Games, has reportedly shared that the podcast teams at Wondery will be fused with the Audible team. A new division will be formed, called Creator Services, which will contain the creator-led content, as reported by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Jen Sargent, CEO, Wondery, will be stepping down.
This restructuring is aimed at positioning the company to offer better experiences to not just customers but also the creators and advertisers.
Wondery was acquired by Amazon about five years ago and was known for Dirty John, Dr Death and other similar narrative podcasts.
With stiff competition from YouTube, audio-first platforms are being forced to restrategise and think of new ways to survive amid popular video formats.
Amazon is looking to merge Wondery’s storytelling content with Audible’s and increase focus on creator-led content.
Since its birth in 2016, Wondery, the American podcast network established by Hernan Lopez, had grown popular owing to podcasts such as American History Tellers, Dr Death and The Shrink Next Door. Wondery was backed by 20th Century Fox.
