EXCLUSIVE: Major layoffs are underway Monday the Walt Disney Company, with several hundred employees impacted globally, 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. (UPDATE: 1 PM: Names of TV development and casting executives affected by the layoffs have emerged.)
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.
