The layoffs of about 30% of ad sales employees at Warner Bros Discovery started today and will likely proceed over the next few weeks.The latest cuts from a combined workforce in the range of 40,000 (10,000 from Discovery and the rest from WarnerMedia) come as the company continues to work toward achieving at least $3 billion in cost savings from the $43 billion merger. Since the deal closed in April, the company has embarked on an aggressive effort to roll back expenses in many areas. Not all of the savings will be achieved via lower payroll, of course — many operations are also coming together, none bigger than the streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+.Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels estimated the streaming services have about $6 billion in non-content costs attached to them. As the two merge in 2023, those operations will be a “major factor” in ongoing efforts to contain costs, he said.As to the $3 billion cost savings projection first issued in spring 2021 when the merger was initially proposed, Wiedenfels said he has “never had any doubt about our ability to deliver those financial targets.” Already, he noted, between $2 billion and $3 billion of actual cost savings has been recorded, with the rest due in 2023. A person familiar with the layoffs said they should result in a “steady state” of staffing by the early part of next year. The latest cuts are not expected to involve particularly high-ranking or high-profile employees.“We are moving at pace here,” Wiedenfels said. “Everything is on the table. now is the time to discuss, now is the time to form a vision.”Decisions about staffing have largely been left up to individual departments, according to insiders, though budget targets have been communicated by senior management.Axios and Bloomberg both previously reported on the layoffs.
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