Warner Music unveils plans to cut 270 jobs
Warner Music Group has unveiled plans to lay off approximately 4% of its global staff – around 270 employees. The move was announced by CEO Robert Kyncl in a company memo on Wednesday morning. He has explained that all affected staff members will be informed of their redundancies by Thursday.
“In my discussions with our leaders across the company, many of them came to the same conclusion – that to take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us, we need to make some hard choices in order to evolve,” Kyncl wrote, noting that the “tough decision” was taken to ensure “flexibility for our future”.
The full memo begins: “As I mentioned at our first All-Hands meeting last month, I’m committed to direct and honest communication with all of you. The music business is filled with new possibilities: more fans are engaging with artists and songs than ever, our reach is enormous, and new business models are constantly emerging. WMG is positioning itself for this new phase of growth at the intersection of creativity and technology”.
It continues: “In my discussions with our leaders across the company, many of them came to the same conclusion – that to take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us, we need to make some hard choices in order to evolve. Consistent with this direction, we’ve made the tough decision to reduce our global team by approximately 270 people, or about 4%. At the same time, we’re reallocating resources towards new skills for artist and songwriter development and new tech initiatives. We’re also reducing discretionary spending and open positions to provide us with additional flexibility for our future.”
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