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AT&T Inc owned WarnerMedia is expected to layoff thousands of employees in the United States in the coming weeks in a bid to reduce cost, Wall Street Jounral reported.
The media giant will be restructuring its workforce while attemting to reduce costs by as much as 20 per cent to combat the setback faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The layoffs which are expected to begin in the coming weeks will impact Warner Bros. studios and TV channels like HBO, TBS and TNT, as per the report.
The company did not confirm the number of layoffs. However, in a statement to WSJ, a WarnerMedia spokesperson said that the company had faced a “significant impact” of the pandemic similar to other players in the entertainment industry.
“We are in the midst of that process and it will involve increased investments in priority areas and, unfortunately, reductions in others,” the spokesperson said as quoted by the report.
The layoff would add on to the hundreds of layoff made by WarerMedia last month, within Warner Bros, as part of an internal restructuring effort, according to a report by Variety .
The restructuring will be carried out under the leadership of Jason Kilar who was appointed as the CEO of WarnerMedia earlier this year.
The company has made a range of executive changes since then. At least 600 staffers were laid off as part of the restructuring in August, Los Angeles Times reported.
The pandemic has led to big players in the entertainment industry laying off employees to cut costs.
Nearly 28,000 workers at Walt Disney Co were laid off as part of its workforce reductions of the Covid-19 era. The layoffs impacted Disney’s theme parks, cruise ships and retail businesses.
The company had previously furloughed workers and had cut expenses to sustain operations as per a CNBC report.
Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal had also een forced to layoff emloyees due to delayed film releases, closed down theme parks business and production issues, LA Times reported.
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