Amazon Prime to Lay Off Staff and Stop Producing African Content 

Amazon Prime, the global streaming giant, is laying off staff and scaling back its local content production in Africa and the Middle East. The streaming platform, the third largest in Africa, is restructuring its business model to focus on its European market. Barry Furlong, the vice president of Prime’s EMEA division, says that the decision was made to focus on the areas that drive the highest impact and long-term success. Amazon Prime will still be present in Africa, but the platform will stop approving local shows in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. Africa’s streaming market is projected to have at least 18 million paying streaming customers by 2029, up from 8 million customers last year