IHeartMedia is laying off workers this week.
The radio and podcasting company is letting go of less than 5 percent of its workforce, which is currently around 10,000 employees. The cuts are meant to eliminate redundancies and streamline the business, a source familiar with the matter confirms to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Our broadcast radio audience has more listeners than it did ten years ago, and according to Nielsen Edison, we’re even seeing Gen Z audience listening increasing. We’re the #1 podcast publisher, bigger than the next two combined, and we’re 5x the size of the next largest digital radio service. We’ve been able to achieve this by modernizing the company and increasing our use of technology so we can build the best radio stations, with the biggest talent, in any of our markets in the U.S.,” Wendy Goldberg, a spokesperson for iHeartMedia, said in a statement.
“These changes are another step in that journey. Although in a company of 10,000 people very few jobs have been affected, there have been some and we never take this step lightly no matter how few jobs it entails; every team member is important to us and has our respect and appreciation,” the statement continues.
The company is due to report third-quarter earnings Thursday. In its last earnings report, iHeartMedia reported an operating loss of $910 million, wider than its loss of $897 million in Q2 2023. Podcasting has been a strong point, driving overall revenue in the company’s digital audio group. But iHeartMedia, otherwise saw its consolidated second quarter revenue rise just 1 percent, to reach $929 million, last quarter.