Amazon Lays Off 110 Employees in Wondery Audio Restructuring

Amazon is restructuring its audio business, resulting in around 110 layoffs at its Wondery podcast division and the departure of Wondery CEO Jen Sargent. The company is consolidating Wondery's narrative podcasts under Audible, Amazon's audiobook and podcast platform, while personality-driven and creator-led shows will be managed by a new "creator services" team within Amazon. This realignment responds to the evolving podcast landscape, particularly the rising popularity of video podcasts on platforms like YouTube, which require different strategies for discovery, growth, and monetization compared to traditional audio-first narrative series. Amazon aims to better support creators, improve monetization opportunities, and simplify advertising processes through this reorganization. Despite these changes, Amazon continues to compete aggressively in the podcast space, which is projected to generate billions in advertising revenue, by leveraging its broad platform ecosystem including Audible, Amazon Music, and Alexa. The shift reflects broader industry trends, including contractions and layoffs at other major podcast companies like Spotify and Audacy.