Amazon is closing its Wondery podcast studio and laying off 110 employees as part of a broader restructuring of its audio division, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The tech giant plans to shift existing Wondery content under its Audible brand or to a new “creator services” team, which will focus on personality-driven programming, such as Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast.
“The podcast landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years,” wrote Steve Boom, Amazon’s vice president of audio, Twitch, and games, in a staff memo obtained by Bloomberg. “The rise of video has also blurred the lines on what it means to be a podcast creator.”
Amazon acquired Wondery in late 2020 in a bid to strengthen its presence in the podcasting market. But the decision to fold the studio suggests the company’s audio strategy has not delivered the expected results. Despite investing in well-known creators, Amazon has struggled to keep pace with competitors like Spotify and YouTube, which have increasingly leaned into video as a dominant format for podcast consumption.
The restructuring reflects Amazon’s shift toward a more streamlined and competitive approach as the audio and video content markets continue to converge.
