Warner Bros. Discovery Bloodbath: HBO Max Lays Off Dozens of Employees in Latest Cuts

After putting CNN+ out of its misery earlier this year, executives at Warner Bros. Discovery have wielded the ax once again, this time laying off dozens of employees at HBO Max.

The streaming service saw about 70 of its employees lose their jobs on Monday, according to multiple reports. The cuts were part of a 14 percent headcount reduction of staff under HBO and HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys , with the bulk of the layoffs hitting HBO Max’s various departments.

HBO Max’s unscripted and live-action family programming were hardest hit according to a report in the New York Times.

In an internal memo obtained by Deadline, Bloys described the layoffs as “extremely painful.”

“Although I am confident these structural changes will allow us to sustain a thriving business model, these decisions have been extremely painful to make,” he wrote.

“We operate in an environment where we must adapt in real-time to industry and company exigencies. None of this lessens the blow of parting ways with such talented, trusted, hardworking, and celebrated teammates.”

Warner Bros. Discovery recently announced plans to merge HBO Max and the Discovery+ streaming service into a single entity next year.

Monday’s layoffs are the latest reductions coming from CEO David Zaslav, who has promised to find at least $3 billion in savings in the merged company.

Among his first cuts was CNN+, which was a shut down in humiliating fashion after less than a month of operation. The highly touted streaming service cost an estimated $300 million but only managed to attract a paltry 150,000 subscribers.

Other corporate casualties include the Warner Bros. movie Batgirl, which the parent company recently decided to permanently shelve prior to release.

Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com