Amazon slashes Wondery podcast team as focus shifts to video, five years after Apple’s $400M interest

Five years ago, Apple reportedly considered acquiring podcast studio Wondery for around $400 million. At the time, Spotify and other companies were spending millions on putting podcasts behind paywalls to boost their businesses and steal mindshare from Apple.

Ultimately, Wondery went to Amazon. For its part, Apple redefined “subscribing” to a podcast to mean paying a monthly fee for member-supported perks. Wondery became one of many podcast studios with paid subscription features…