Disney plans extensive round of layoffs in the coming weeks
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- Disney plans to eliminate jobs in the coming weeks.
- The extensive cuts reflect broader challenges facing Hollywood studios: declining theatrical revenues and shrinking linear TV audiences.
- The layoffs add to Hollywood’s ongoing workforce reductions, with Sony Pictures also announcing significant cuts as media companies restructure amid industrywide pressures.
Walt Disney Co. is planning an extensive round of layoffs in the coming weeks, according to a source familiar with the matter but unauthorized to comment.
The move comes nearly three months after Disney unveiled a more streamlined management structure that sought to centralize its sprawling marketing operations.
Disney declined to comment.
The total number of layoffs could be as high as 1,000, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported news of the planned cuts.
Many of the layoffs are expected to come from the recent consolidation of Disney’s marketing department.
After officially taking the reins of the company last month, Chief Executive Josh D’Amaro told employees he wants the Burbank media and entertainment giant — which includes film and TV studios, a tourism division, streaming services and live sports programming — to operate as “one Disney,” saying the global businesses all play a role in deepening consumers’ relationship with Disney and its characters.
Like many studios in Hollywood, Disney has faced decreased theatrical revenues, the continued decline of linear television and the smaller profits it makes from its streaming services. Though the company’s theme parks division has served as its economic engine for years, Disney recently indicated it expects to see “headwinds” in international tourism to its U.S. parks.
The news of the planned Disney job cuts adds to the ongoing drumbeat Hollywood has endured for the last few years.
On Tuesday, Sony Pictures Entertainment said it planned to cut hundreds of its employees worldwide as it looked to restructure its business.
Disney recently laid off thousands of workers in the years after former Chief Executive Bob Iger returned to the company. At the time, Iger said Disney had been pumping out too many shows and movies to compete with Netflix and needed to retrench.
