Warner Bros. is laying off roughly 10% of its Motion Picture Group staff worldwide, the media behemoth revealed Wednesday.
The cuts come less than two months after its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, announced on June 9 that it would peel apart its cable operations and streaming service by splitting them into two independent, publicly traded companies.
On Monday, the organization announced that its offsprings’ names would be Warner Bros. and Discovery Global.
The Motion Picture Group, a subset of Warner Bros., is shedding staff across its production, marketing, distribution and live theater ventures, as Deadline first reported. The news was delivered Wednesday morning in an internal memo from group co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.
The company has also filed a letter with the California Employment Development Department stating that staff would be reduced by 52 people starting Oct. 4, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A “thoughtful assessment” that began earlier this year amid Warner’s efforts to create a “fully global structure” had led to this moment, De Luca and Abdy said.
“The future of how we run this business has required us to make some very difficult decisions, including staffing adjustments that will impact members of the Motion Picture Group,” the execs said.
Warner Bros., dubbed the “Streaming & Studios” company, consists of Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, HBO Max and Warner Bros. Gaming Studios, plus their film and television libraries.
The “Global Networks” cable company, Discovery Global, has under its umbrella worldwide networks including CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., top free-to-air (non-subscription) channels across Europe, and digital products such as the Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report.
With News Wire Services
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