Amazon planning to cut ‘several hundred’ jobs from Prime Video and MGM

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (Source: Prime Video)

Amazon is planning to cut “several hundred” jobs across MGM Studios and streaming service Prime Video following a year-long review of the business.

The layoffs were announced by Mike Hopkins, SVP at MGM Studios and Prime Video, in a memo to staff today, who said that the company needs to “prioritise our investments for the long-term success of our business” amid recent upheavals that are causing the industry to “evolve quickly.”

Hopkins said that the company has identified “opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.

“As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organisation.”

Employees facing redundancy are to be told shortly, with those in the Americas to be informed by this morning (Pacific time) and most other regions by the end of the week.

Hopkins said that it had been “a difficult decision to make and one that my leadership team and I do not take lightly. It is hard to say goodbye to talented Amazonians who’ve made meaningful contributions on behalf of our customers, team and business.”

Prime Video is behind original programming including The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, The Boys and its spin-off Gen V, Reacher and The Wheel Of Time.

MGM changes

MGM+ execs Nancy Cotton, EVP of scripted programming, and Marcy Kaplan, head of production, are among a slew of senior executives being let go from Amazon, which is consolidating its MGM scripted, unscripted and MGM+ teams into a single division.

Arturo Interian, VP of current scripted programming, scripted exec Chris Castallo, Rob Hochberg, VP of development & production, scripted TV, and Uri Fleming, head of business affairs, are also among senior figures departing as part of the restructure.

Other scripted execs including Amy Suh and Sony Strich, both development execs for genre series at Amazon Studios; and Vanessa Martinez, creative exec, first look & overall deals, are exiting, according to Deadline which first named the departing execs.

The majority of these exits come as a result of a restructure that will see Lindsay Sloane’s MGM Scripted TV team being integrated alongside MGM+ and Barry Poznick’s MGM Alternative TV team into a single division under Chris Brearton, VP of corporate strategy for Prime Video and Studios.

Sloane and Poznick will continue to work alongside the studios teams to develop for Prime Video and external platforms, while Michael Wright will continue to head up MGM+, now reporting to Brearton as a part of the newly merged division.