Amazon is gutting its Wondery podcast studio
Amazon is splitting up its Wondery podcast studio just four years after acquiring it, as first reported by Bloomberg. As part of the change, the studio will shed around 110 employees, while Wondery CEO Jen Sargent will leave the company.
In a statement to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Alice Zhou confirmed that while Wondery will continue to produce podcasts, its narrative-driven studio, which has developed shows like Dr. Death, American Scandal, and Business Wars, will merge with Amazon’s Audible team.
Its celebrity-hosted shows, such as New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce, LeBron James’ Mind the Game, and Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, will join a new “creator services” team that will focus on “selling large sponsorships,” according to Bloomberg. Some of these shows will keep the Wondery branding, while the Wondery Plus app will also remain available after the shuffle, according to Bloomberg.
“The podcast landscape has evolved significantly in the past few years, particularly with the rise of video-forward, creator-led content,” Zhou said. “These changes reflect that evolution and will streamline how Wondery integrates further into Amazon.” Zhou added that “many” of the Wondery employees impacted by the studio’s split moved to “other parts of Amazon.”
Amazon closed its $300 million deal to acquire Wondery in 2021. Over the past few years, the podcast industry has undergone a shift to video that has helped make YouTube the most popular platform for podcasts. Wondery laid off a “small number” of employees earlier this year, while some of its flagship podcasts, such as SmartLess and Morbid, have left for SiriusXM.