HBO is reducing its staff by 7%, or about 150 staffers, as part of parent company Time Warner’s drive to cut costs and boost profits.
In the past few months, Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting unit eliminated nearly 1,500 staffers and Warner Bros. cut 1,000 positions.
In a memo to staff earlier this month, HBO CEO Richard Plepler told staffer how the Time Warner cost cutting would affect the premium cable brand.
“We reviewed 2015 budgets and staffing plans with this in mind and reduced cost and redundancy wherever possible to preserve our ability to invest in our future. This will unfortunately include the elimination of some positions,” Plepler said.
Plepler added that “this is the most exciting inflection point, domestically and internationally, in the modern history of HBO. It’s fair to say that by any metric: subscriber growth, content deals, the ever-extending reach of our brand or industry buzz; we are at the top of our game - and . . . we are just getting started. All of this is possible for one simple reason, the talented people that make up this company.”
