In the midst of a long summer of cost-cutting and budget cuts in Hollywood, Disney has launched a new round of layoffs within its corporate structure.
“We are continually evaluating ways to invest in our operations and more effectively manage our resources and costs to fuel the cutting-edge creativity and innovation that consumers appreciate and expect from Disney,” a company representative said. “As part of this ongoing optimization effort, we have examined the cost structure for our functions across the enterprise and determined there are ways to make them operate more efficiently.”
It’s unclear which corporate functions will be hit hardest by the latest layoffs or whether the overhaul will affect Burbank employees or those at other locations. A Disney representative did not provide details on how many employees will be affected or the scope of the round of cost-cutting. The latest corporate cuts were previously reported by Deadline.
The Bob Iger-led studio conglomerate, like nearly every Hollywood company this year, has been cutting employees across multiple divisions. In May, in what was described as the largest restructuring for the unit, Pixar cut about 14 percent of its workforce, about 175 employees, as part of its shift from series production to Disney+.
In Disney’s Aug. 7 earnings conference call, CFO Hugh Johnston noted that the company’s push toward streaming profitability has been a work in progress. “It wasn’t that long ago that we were losing $1 billion a quarter and now we’re making money and our expectation is that we’re going to continue on this path of making more money to get to and then eventually far exceed the double-digit margins that we’ve been talking about,” Johnston told analysts, when asked about his margins and crackdown on password sharing. (That crackdown, its paid sharing program, also formally began Wednesday.)
Last year, Iger unveiled a plan to cut 7,000 employees as part of a “strategic realignment” of the company that was instituted in phases with job cuts over several months. As of its most recent annual report, Disney employed 225,000 people across its divisions, from its film and television studio networks, its ESPN sports division, its streaming services (Disney+ and Hulu) as well as its parks and experiences group. Of those, 167,000 employees are in the U.S. and 58,000 employees are based outside the country.
So far, Disney shares are up about 3.5% year-to-date, but are well below their 2021 and 2022 levels.