Photo Credit: Atlantic Music Group
More details are emerging about the latest layoffs at Warner Music Group, which has moved forward with plans to reduce Atlantic Music Group’s headcount.
We covered that headcount reduction, the newest byproduct of a massive reorganization at the major label, yesterday. In a memo, WMG CEO Robert Kyncl indicated that some Atlantic Music Group (AMG) employees would be let go ahead of a leadership-team announcement from soon-to-be AMG CEO Elliot Grainge.
What Kyncl didn’t disclose, however, was the precise number of affected professionals. For a bit of quick background – it’s becoming increasingly difficult to track the many shakeups not just at WMG, but all three majors – March of 2023 saw Warner Music lay off a reported 270 team members.
A portion of these cuts reached AMG, and WMG in February of this year acknowledged plans for additional layoffs yet. At the time, the company expected the reorganization to encompass “a reduction in headcount of approximately 600 or 10%,” including in advertising, media, corporate roles, and “various support functions,” according to the relevant regulatory filing.
Now, though, WMG in an amended filing yesterday revised its estimates for the layoffs, which it relayed would instead impact 750 persons (or 13% of the company) in the same areas as those identified in February.
The business expects to save $260 million (with a “significant” chunk of the sum arriving by the 2025 fiscal year’s end) and to incur $150 million in severance expenses. Agreements associated with the latter are presumably preventing axed team members from publicly discussing the precise circumstances of the layoffs.
But they certainly aren’t preventing them from updating their LinkedIn profiles. Most will presumably make said updates in the approaching days and weeks, but one early adjustment shows that the new layoffs affected an Atlantic touring and artist-development coordinator.
Regarding the extent of the layoffs in hard numbers – the cuts are, of course, on top of the two dozen that hit AMG in February – Billboard has placed the total at between 150 and 175, against an estimate of 170 from Variety.
As to where things go from here, Grainge’s mentioned leadership-team announcement will provide further insight as to the new operational direction of Warner Music. Closer to the present, in a contrast to the post-reduction share-price surges attributable to different music companies, Warner Music Group stock (NASDAQ: WMG) is currently down about 1.3% at $30.12 per share.
On an adjacent-but-worthwhile note, Spotify stock (NYSE: SPOT) quietly spiked to a 52-week high of $368.29 per share yesterday – with even its slightly smaller present value representing a market cap nearly five times as large as that of Warner Music Group.
