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WBD makes dozens of lay-offs as new round of cuts hits cable division

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has cut dozens of jobs at its cable division in a new round of lay-offs.

David Zaslav

Although the exact number of job losses is not yet known, reports suggest far fewer than 100 employees were let go. Reports also suggest Wednesday’s cuts were not targeted at any one network or location.

The New York-headquartered company’s cable network portfolio includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC and CNN.

In its most recent earnings report, WBD saw revenue in its linear networks segment fall 7% to US$4.77bn as the impact of cord-cutting and shrinking advertising continued to take a toll.

The segment continues to be the company’s main profit centre, with WBD’s linear networks generating quarterly adjusted earnings of US$1.79bn. However, that was down 15% from US$2.12bn the previous year.

Like Comcast with Versant, WBD is taking steps to separate its linear networks from its streaming and studio assets, under the leadership of CEO David Zaslav.

Earlier this year, the company was split into two main divisions – cable networks on one side, studios and streamers on the other – in a move it said would create more options for future deals.

Last month, CNBC’s David Faber reported WBD might be close to officially splitting into two separate companies. However, the company has not said whether or not that is the eventual plan.

The WBD lay-offs come during another challenging week for TV industry workers after Disney cut several hundred jobs across its film and TV divisions.

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