Amazon is laying off 110 people as part of a restructuring of its Wondery podcast network business, according to Bloomberg.
Amazon is moving existing Wondery operations into the company’s Audible unit or a new “creator services” team, Bloomberg reported, citing a memo to staff.
Wondery CEO Jen Sargent will leave the company as part of the changes.
Amazon acquired Wondery’s podcast production studio in 2020 in a bid to move further into original audio content and podcasts — but that strategy “hasn’t worked out as planned,” Bloomberg noted, amid a shift for podcasts to a video-first approach and competition from Spotify and YouTube.
Update: Amazon confirmed that roughly 110 roles were impacted, with some Wondery employees moving to other parts of Amazon. Wondery will continue to develop and produce creator-led podcasts.
- “The podcast landscape has evolved significantly in the past few years, particularly with the rise of video-forward, creator-led content,” Amazon said in a statement. “These changes reflect that evolution and will streamline how Wondery integrates further into Amazon. By making these changes, we can better support creators in monetizing their content across multiple channels, help them expand their brand IP, and simplify the process for advertisers while making content more accessible to audiences wherever they prefer to consume it. This evolution builds on Wondery’s early success with video-forward shows and positions us to better serve creators, customers, and advertisers.”