In the biggest news item of the day, a unanimity of reporting asserts that podcast studio Wondery will be closed by parent company Amazon. Anyone gleaning a cursory understanding of today’s news has seen reports of that sad supposed shutdown.
Amazon acquired Wondery on the last day of 2020. (RAIN HERE)
But in mid-afternoon ET, leading tech site TechCrunch contradicted the news with this headline: “Amazon denies report it’s shutting down Wondery podcast studio.”
The truth as we see it today is about restructuring, and probably a reduced prominence of the Wondery brand. We understand the following points, most of which come from a memo seen by the Reuters news agency:
- Part of Wondery — the narrative podcast studio — will separate from the Wondery brand and combine with Amazon-owned Audible. Narrative podcasts are characterized by host-led experiences across multiple episodes, like TV without the video.
- A layoff sweep will catch 110 employees, reportedly.
- Alongside that rearrangement, we read this report: “Wondery will continue to develop creator-led podcasts under the Wondery brand within a new team.”
Lining all this up, it appears that Amazon is executing a separation of teams. Amazon is quoted characterizing the move like this:
“These changes […] will streamline how Wondery integrates further into Amazon. By making these changes, we can better support creators in monetizing their content across multiple channels, help them expand their brand IP, and simplify the process for advertisers while making content more accessible to audiences wherever they prefer to consume it.”
There will reportedly be layoffs, unsurprisingly. Reuters asserts that 110 jobs will be cut.
Along that line, CEO Jen Sargent will exit the company after a transition period, again according to Reuters. Earthquakes do shake the top floors.