Warner Bros. Discovery will this week offer buyouts to members of its U.S. ad sales team, as part of a plan to shrink the global sales force by as much as 30%, according to people familiar with the situation. The buyouts are one of the first big cost-cutting steps taken since the formation of the company from Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia in April.
The company has a global ad sales force of about 3,000, about half of whom are in the U.S. Warner’s goal of cutting up to 30% implies it wants to eliminate nearly 1,000 jobs over time, including through the buyouts, layoffs and natural attrition, the people said. The company has already imposed a hiring freeze in ad sales.
