As part of a company-wide restructuring effort, several hundred jobs are being eliminated across AT&T’s WarnerMedia division, which includes HBO, Warner Bros., and Turner Broadcasting. HBO is expected to lay off 150 to 175 staffers in these layoffs, and Warner Brothers could fire as many as 650.
The layoffs come in the wake of the release of AT&T’s Q2 financial report, which listed substantial losses in revenue for all WarnerMedia companies. HBO, Warner Bros., and Turner have all taken a hit to their bottom line this year due to knock-on effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as closed movie theaters, halted productions, lost advertising revenue, and canceled sporting events. HBO also suffered a big spike in its operational expenses due to the launch ofits streaming service HBO Maxin May.
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There are varying reports about the precise numbers of jobs lost to the layoffs. Variety lists 650 layoffs at Warner Brothers and 150 to 175 at HBO, butArs Technicaclaims the total number of eliminated positions across all affected companies is only around 600. However the numbers shake out, this is the latest in a series of layoffs by AT&T,which has cut over 41,000 jobsacross all of its departments over the course of the last three years.
AT&T, and thus WarnerMedia, appears to be in trouble, but it’s still too soon to start talking about what happens if they go under. While AT&T’s attempts to sell off Warner’s games divisionseem to have stopped for now, the company’s seeming desperation to make money is likely to lead to some more shortsighted decisions in the near future. It’s anyone’s guess what AT&T might do next, but anyone who happens to own a more comfortably situated multimedia company should probably take a look at AT&T’s portfolio and see what they might like to own for themselves. If AT&T continues along this trajectory, it’s likely to start selling off parts of its would-be empire for pennies on the dollar.
