Latest news with #DisneyEntertainment
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Disney Laying Off Hundreds In TV & Film Entertainment, Corporate Finance
EXCLUSIVE: Major layoffs are underway Monday the Walt Disney Company, with several hundred employees impacted globally, Deadline has learned. The bulk of them are across divisions of Disney Entertainment, including marketing for both film and television as well as television publicity, casting and development. Also affected are Disney's corporate financial operations. According to sources, the size of the cuts on the film and TV side of Disney Entertainment is comparable. No teams are being eliminated. The majority of the Disney Entertainment Television staffers are said to be based in Los Angeles. Deadline will continue its coverage as more details about those impacted emerge during what is expected to be a tough day on the Disney campuses. (UPDATE: 1 PM: Names of TV development and casting executives affected by the layoffs have emerged.) More from Deadline Disney Reports Better-Than-Expected Quarterly Numbers Driven By Experiences And Sports NBCUniversal Starts New Round Of Layoffs As SpinCo Begins To Take Shape Ex-'Doctor Odyssey' Crew Members Sue Disney, 20th TV Claiming Sexual Harassment And Wrongful Termination This is the fourth — and largest — round of layoffs in the past 10 months that has affected various Disney television operations. They are part of an ongoing cost-cutting process at the traditional media companies as they reshape their business to focus on streaming while facing economic headwinds. Disney's Bob Iger set the pace upon his return as CEO, establishing a goal of at least $7.5 billion in cost reductions at the start of 2023, with about 7,000 jobs eliminated that year. In early March, just under 200 Disney employees were laid off, representing almost 6% of the workforce in the ABC News Group and Disney's entertainment networks, including Freeform and FX. A big restructuring last October involved 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. It resulted in about 30 Disney Entertainment Television layoffs. And last July, DET underwent a round of staff cuts that impacted roughly 140 people, representing about 2% of the total workforce, 60 of them at National Geographic. The latest cuts follow Disney's better-than-expected Q2 earnings last month, fueled largely by experiences and sports, with streaming also delivering strong results as direct-to-consumer operating profit increased by $289 million to $336 million. At the annual shareholder meeting earlier this spring, Iger spoke about creating new jobs, largely in Disney experiences, including theme parks. The Disney layoffs also come on the heels of staff cuts at NBCUniversal as the company is spinning off several cable networks into a new company named Versant. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Stranger Things' Season 5 So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Entrepreneur
02-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Disney Is Laying Off Hundreds of Workers Globally
Disney is laying off several hundred workers, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and Deadline. It's the fourth and largest batch of cuts from the company in the last 10 months. Deadline reports that the majority of the cuts are from the company's corporate financial operations and Disney Entertainment's various divisions, including film and television marketing, publicity, development, and casting. Related: Here's How Much 8 CEOs Made in 2024, From JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon to Disney's Bob Iger The Wall Street Journal notes that entire teams were not being eliminated, but the cuts span divisions globally. Disney, which is headquartered in Burbank, California, would not disclose the exact number of layoffs this week, according to the Los Angeles Times. In March, the company cut around 200 jobs, about 6% of the news workforce, mostly affecting the ABC News division in New York. According to a filing with the SEC, Disney had around 233,000 employees at the end of September 2024. The company has cut more than 8,000 roles since 2023, per Bloomberg. Disney reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings last month. Related: Disney Announces Major Executive Changes, Including When CEO Bob Iger Is Leaving. Here's What We Know.
Express Tribune
25-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Disney sues YouTube over executive defection amid fears of confidential info leak
Disney has filed a lawsuit against YouTube in a Los Angeles state court, aiming to stop former executive Justin Connolly from joining the Google-owned platform. The media giant claims Connolly's move would breach his contract and risk exposing confidential business information. Connolly, who resigned in May from his role as Disney Entertainment's President of Platform Distribution, was instrumental in overseeing the company's TV and streaming content deals. According to the complaint, Connolly had signed a contract to remain with Disney until 2027 and was prohibited from engaging with direct competitors — a clause Disney argues YouTube now violates. As first reported by C21 and Bloomberg, Connolly is poised to take on a senior role at YouTube, managing the platform's media partnerships and live sports expansion. Disney contends that his insider knowledge, especially regarding distribution strategies and financial terms of licensing deals, could give YouTube an unfair advantage. 'Connolly has intimate knowledge of Disney's other distribution deals, the financial details concerning Disney's content being licensed to YouTube, and Disney's negotiation strategies,' said Disney lawyer Kavin Gaut in the complaint. 'It would be extremely prejudicial to Disney for Connolly to breach the contract which he negotiated just a few months ago and switch teams when Disney is working on a new licensing deal with the company that is trying to poach him.' This lawsuit comes at a time when YouTube is dominating digital viewership. In March 2025, the platform accounted for nearly 12% of all TV viewing, surpassing competitors like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. As of now, YouTube has not issued a public response to the legal filing.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Disney Platform Distribution President Justin Connolly Exits to Join YouTube
After over two decades at Disney, platform distribution president Justin Connolly is exiting the entertainment giant to join YouTube as its global head of media and sports, an individual familiar with the matter confirmed to TheWrap. At the Alphabet-owned video platform, he will oversee partnerships with major media companies, including Disney, as well as sports leagues. His oversight will include distribution deals for YouTube TV, which has more than 8 million subscribers, and the company's live sports portfolio, per a memo from chief business officer Mary Ellen Coe. Since 2019, Connolly has been tasked with overseeing Disney's third-party media sales efforts for distribution, affiliate-related business operations for all of its direct-to-consumer services and linear media networks, and content sales agreements for Disney Entertainment and ESPN. He first joined Disney in 2003 as director of ESPN strategy and operations and went on to serve in various roles including executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing, senior vice president of college networks and vice president of distribution strategy. Disney's platform distribution executive vice presidents Sean Breen and Jimmy Zasowski will serve as interim leaders of the division. Connolly's exit comes as Disney is preparing to launch its ESPN streaming service this fall ahead of carriage negotiations with YouTube TV – discussions that he has previously led on behalf of Disney. On Thursday, Disney sued YouTube and Connolly in state court in Los Angeles alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with contractual relations and unfair competition. Per the complaint, Connolly signed a new three-year contract with Disney in November, which included a one-time right to terminate effective March 1, 2027, so long as he provided written notice no later than Dec. 31, 2026. 'Connolly has intimate knowledge of Disney's other distribution deals, the financial details concerning Disney's content being licensed to YouTube, and Disney's negotiation strategies, both in general and in particular with respect toYouTube,' Disney's lawyers wrote. 'It would be extremely prejudicial to Disney for Connolly to breach the contract which he negotiated just a few months ago and switch teams when Disney is working on a new licensing deal with the company that is trying to poach him.' Disney said it first became aware of the offer from YouTube in April and that Connolly formally resigned on May 16. The company is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions. A representative for YouTube did not immediately return TheWrap's request for comment on the lawsuit. More to come… The post Disney Platform Distribution President Justin Connolly Exits to Join YouTube appeared first on TheWrap. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Los Angeles Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
How the mischievous blue alien Stitch became one of Disney's most popular properties
Breea Milburn has been a Stitch fan since the beginning. As a child, she got hooked after seeing the mischievous blue alien crash the fourth wall and disrupt scenes from classic Disney films such as 'The Lion King' and 'Aladdin' in the trailers for the original 2002 animated movie, 'Lilo & Stitch.' Now at 32 years old, the South Carolina resident has amassed a collection of Stitch merchandise — including pins, plush dolls and a purse that makes it look like he's attached to her hip — largely given to her by family and friends. Although Milburn loves Stitch's troublemaking ways, she said she also appreciates the serious themes the movie tackles by following a young girl's adventures and struggles in Hawaii with her sister after their parents' death. Stitch is thrown in as the 'humor element in what's really a dark story, but also a more realistic story that I think can resonate more with people,' she said. 'This is more than just a character that's pure chaos.' Milburn, and the legions of Stitch aficionados like her, are why Walt Disney Co. may be about to have its next $1-billion blockbuster movie. The new live-action remake, out this weekend, is expected to haul in $120 million to $150 million through Monday at the domestic box office, according to analysts' estimates. That would be an extraordinary success, especially coming after Disney's latest redo of an animated classic, 'Snow White,' flopped badly. It's all the more surprising because the 2002 'Lilo & Stitch' was only a modest box-office performer, grossing a total of $273 million worldwide. That movie came during a fallow period after the so-called Disney renaissance that created acclaimed animated films such as 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Tarzan.' There are no permanent rides in Disney's theme parks focused on Stitch to keep him constantly in the public eye. The audience for the new movie, which cost an estimated $100 million to produce, is expected to be multi-generational, with children well-represented alongside millennials who were kids when the 2002 film came out, said Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment. Although the character has its strongest appeal among girls, Disney is banking on boys showing up too. 'We do believe with this movie, we have the opportunity to get everybody,' he said. 'To do the kind of box office that I think we're going to do, you need to get everybody, and I do believe we will.' Stitch has become an unlikely star among Disney's characters. The blue alien is so popular that he ranks in the top 10 best-selling Disney franchises, alongside stalwarts such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the princesses, Star Wars and Marvel, the company said. The 'Lilo & Stitch' franchise, which includes some animated series, TV films and direct-to-video movies, has driven 546 million hours of global viewership on Disney+, with the original 2002 movie accounting for more than half of that. Viewership of the 'Lilo & Stitch' catalog also has gone up significantly every year, based on the hours streamed, Disney said. On the retail side, sales of Stitch-themed merchandise totaled about $2.6 billion last year. Some current highlights are collectible Spam cans, a more than 4-foot-tall remote controlled inflatable, Stitch dog costumes and 'Lilo & Stitch'-inspired makeup sets. Bergman said Stitch's enduring popularity 'definitely' played a role in green-lighting the live-action film. And there could be more to come. 'This property lends itself to more, and we're figuring out exactly what that is,' Bergman said. 'Clearly, the characters have stood the test of time, and this [film] is going to reinvigorate the franchise yet again.' So what is it about this koala-esque alien who picks his nose with his own tongue that has resonated with consumers for more than two decades? Although Stitch is often described as a fun-loving agent of chaos, his deeper characteristics make him not so different from other Disney heroes, said Lindsay Hahn, an assistant professor of communication at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. As a media psychologist who focuses on morality and has researched more than 730 Disney movies, Hahn found that the Disney hero prototype is often willing to break the rules if that's what's necessary to help others. (Think of Mulan, who flouts authority and enlists in the army to save her father.) Stitch's dedication to family and care for others — in addition to his commotion-making ways — puts him squarely in that mold, she said. 'In many ways, he checks all of those boxes quite perfectly,' Hahn said. 'He just tends to do it in a way that seems maybe a little more outside the typical Disney hero because he's seemingly unpredictable and cute.' Stitch's emphasis on finding his place in the world also may be a factor in his oddly relatable appeal, said Tamar Rimmon, vice president of research and analytics strategy at Fandom, which hosts information pages on entertainment topics. 'There's this emotional connection. The whole theme of finding your own family, I think, is something that really resonates in our current culture, especially with millennials and Gen Z,' she said. Out of nearly 2,000 Disney franchise communities, 'Lilo & Stitch' has ranked in the top 20 for the last five years, according to data from Fandom. Stitch, in particular, was the 11th most popular Disney character on Fandom in the last year, and the 21st most popular character over the last five years, the company said. (Rankings are based on page views on Fandom's site.) In 2024, Stitch was largely surpassed only by characters who were featured in recent movies, including the emotions from Disney-Pixar's 'Inside Out 2,' Scar and Mufasa from 'The Lion King' and Moana. The only three older characters that beat Stitch were Mickey Mouse, Stitch's female counterpart Angel, and Elsa from the animated hit 'Frozen.' 'There are constantly new [intellectual properties] that will come and unseat characters who come from older movies,' Rimmon said. 'But that's what I think speaks even more strongly to the staying power of Stitch.' That sort of lasting popularity reminds Milburn, the Stitch fan, of another prominent and highly merchandiseable character who isn't tied to current film or TV — Hello Kitty. 'It's that familiar face,' she said. 'Just by his name and his cuteness alone, he has been able to capture generations and generations.'
