Disney sacks hundreds of employees across film, television, other units; 4th and largest layoff in 10 months

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

Hundreds of employees at the Walt Disney Company were reportedly laid off on Monday. As per a Deadline report, the layoffs affected the employees across Disney Entertainment divisions, including marketing for film and television units. It has also impacted the staff in the television publicity, casting, development, as well as in Disney's corporate financial operations divisions. (Also Read | Jeremy Renner rejected Disney's half-salary 'insult offer' for Hawkeye S2)
According to the report, this is the fourth and largest round of layoffs in the last 10 months that have affected many Disney television operations. As per Deadline sources, the "size of the cuts on the film and TV side of Disney Entertainment is comparable". However, no teams have been eliminated. The majority of the employees, as per the report, are based in Los Angeles, USA.
The move is a part of an ongoing cost-cutting process at the traditional media companies. Upon his return as CEO, Disney's Bob Iger set a goal of at least USD 7.5 billion in cost reductions at the beginning of 2023, with about 7,000 jobs eliminated that same year.
In March this year, nearly 200 Disney employees were laid off. Before that, a major restructuring at the Walt Disney Company happened in October, involving the shutdown of ABC Signature, with its operations folded into 20th Television and the consolidation of ABC and Hulu Originals scripted drama and comedy teams, reported Deadline. 30 Disney Entertainment Television layoffs were witnessed then.
The latest cuts follow Disney's Q2 earnings in May this year, which was primarily driven by experiences and sports, with streaming too delivering strong results. The direct-to-consumer operating profit increased by $289 million to $336 million. Earlier, Bob talked about creating new jobs, mainly in Disney experiences, including theme parks.