Disney announces new round of layoffs affecting thousands of staff
The entertainment company plans to cut several thousand jobs in its latest cost-reduction effort, adding to layoffs announced earlier this year.
Disney is preparing another round of job cuts that will affect several thousand employees, according to sources familiar with the plan. The reductions follow earlier announcements that targeted up to 1,000 marketing staff in April and about 300 workers in human resources and technology in September.
Company executives indicated that further cost-saving measures could be announced in the upcoming August earnings report. In a letter to shareholders dated Aug. 5, CEO Josh D'Amaro and CFO Hugh Johnston said, "We remain highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise to create incremental capacity to invest for growth and are evaluating a variety of levers."
Chief People Officer Sonia Coleman later wrote to employees on Aug. 24, stating, "This is one of several actions we're taking to reshape our organization, including involuntary staff reductions that have already begun in some areas and will continue into next year."
Disney, which reported having about 231,000 employees at the end of its fiscal year 2025, also introduced an early-retirement program for eligible staff in August. The company is set to release its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Nov. 17.
Industry peers are also pursuing workforce reductions; Netflix recently announced layoffs affecting roughly 6% of its staff, and the newly merged Skydance, combining assets from Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, is expected to cut employees to achieve $6 billion in synergies over three years.