Warner Bros Discovery Inc. (Nasdaq: WBD) is planning to cut nearly 1,000 jobs or around 30% in its global advertising sales team, according to the report from Reuters who cited the source familiar with the matter.
WBD on Tuesday started offering its employees in the U.S. advertising sales team an opportunity to voluntarily leave the company, the source said, according to Reuters. The company has about 3,000 members in the global advertising sales team.
Gunnar Wiedenfels, Chief Financial Officer of WBD, stated in April after the report of its first quarter earnings, reaffirming the goal of achieving $3 billion in cost savings after a $43 billion merger between Discovery Inc and AT&T’s (T.N) Warner Media.
In April, the company said that it added about two million paid streaming subscribers in the first quarter. The statement came after Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) reported a loss in subscribers for the first time in 10 years.
The streaming industry was surging during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the market is questioning the industry’s long-term prospects as rising inflation and lower consumer spending might be potential threats to the business.
The company reported 24 million first-quarter direct-to-consumer subscribers, which largely includes the Discovery+ streaming service. The figure showed an increase by 2 million since the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.
WBD reported $1.48 billion in total advertising revenue for the first quarter ending March 31, 2022, increased from $1.41 billion in 1Q20, but decreased from $1.70 billion in 4Q20.