The “Partners” statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, at Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom, at Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, June 3, 2023.
Joe Burbank | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Disney is planning to cut several thousand jobs, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Some managers at the entertainment giant have been asked to reduce costs by up to 20%, according to the people, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
It marks the latest round of layoffs since CEO Josh D’Amaro took the reins earlier this year. The update comes after separate plans in April to cut as many as 1,000 employees, predominantly in the marketing department, and in September to cut about 300 employees, many in human resources and technology divisions.
Bloomberg was first to report the latest round of layoffs.
Company executives warned of the possibility of more reductions in its August earnings report.
“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,” D’Amaro and CFO Hugh Johnston wrote in an Aug. 5 letter to shareholders. “We are mid-stream in this work and will provide future updates on our progress.”
Disney introduced plans in August for an early retirement program for some employees.
“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,” Chief People Officer Sonia Coleman wrote in a letter to employees on Aug. 24.
Disney had about 231,000 employees as of the close of its fiscal year 2025, which ended in September of that year, according to the company’s annual financial report.
Disney is not the only entertainment company looking to reduce costs. Netflix said in a memo last month that it would lay off roughly 6% of its workforce. Skydance, the newly combined company of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, is also expected to cut staff in an effort to realize $6 billion in synergies over three years.
Disney will report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Nov. 17.
