Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is set to slash its global sales team by as much as 30% to meet its annual cost-cutting target of $3 billion. According to The Information, it is starting with buyout offers this week for some people working within its U.S. advertising sales force.
This development comes after the $43 billion merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia. Based on the information shared by sources with The Information employees get a chance to voluntarily leave the company through the buyouts,
The report noted that approximately 1000 people will lose their jobs due to these cost-cutting measures. Natural attrition, layoffs and the buyouts will likely fulfil WBD’s target. A hiring freeze has already been put in place ad sales.
Warner Bros Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said, “We feel more confident than ever about achieving our $3 billion cost synergy target, and believe there is a much greater opportunity off of the current baseline and that target will ultimately prove conservative.”
Warner Bros Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said, “We feel more confident than ever about achieving our $3 billion cost synergy target, and believe there is a much greater opportunity off of the current baseline and that target will ultimately prove conservative.”
WBD CEO David Zaslav talked about how the company’s ad sales segment presents an opportunity for cuts due to a lot of overlap in roles post-merger. Post-merger, WBD had about 100 million paid direct-to-consumers subscribers across its streaming services, including Discovery+ and HBO Max.