According to a leaked document that Business Insider acquired, Amazon-owned audiobook startup Audible is laying off 5% of its staff.
In the message, Audible CEO Bob Carrigan congratulated personnel on a successful 2023 and reassured them of the business’s health. Due to the “increasingly challenging landscape,” the corporation is cutting. Layoffs have been a constant problem for IT firms of all kinds since 2022.
Audible declined comment.
Amazon has actively eliminated staff during the last year. Around 27,000 Amazon workers were laid off in 2023, spanning AWS, Twitch, and advertising. Twitch laid off 500 more staff this week, while Amazon’s MGM Studios and Prime Video fired “several hundred.” Amazon’s entertainment goods are in danger.
Besides Prime Video, Amazon acquired Twitch, MGM Studios, and Audible. Most recently, Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion in 2022, adding over 4,000 films and 17,000 TV series to Prime Video. Amazon bought gaming streaming company Twitch for $1 billion in 2014. Amazon bought Audible for $300 million in 2008.
Although Twitch is popular, the expenses of running a large livestreaming service have kept it unprofitable. MGM and Prime Video senior vice president Mike Hopkins said the division is cutting efforts to “reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focusing on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.”
