ANAHEIM, California – Walt Disney is eliminating 1,000 jobs, according to people familiar with the matter, as new chief executive Josh D’Amaro begins to implement organisational changes at the entertainment company.
While the cuts are company wide, they will fall particularly hard on the marketing department, which is being consolidated under Mr Asad Ayaz, who was appointed chief marketing and brand officer in January.
“Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney,” Mr D’Amaro said in a memo to employees on April 14.
“Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs. As a result, we will be eliminating roles in some parts of the company and have begun notifying impacted employees.”
The round of cuts follows more than 8,000 layoffs at Disney since 2023. It is the first major jobs reduction under Mr D’Amaro, who succeeded Mr Bob Iger in March.
Still, the number is only a fraction of the 231,000 employees Disney had at the end of fiscal 2025.
Hollywood workers have suffered through downsizing at every major studio in recent years as the movie industry struggles to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels and as companies cut costs to improve the profitability of their streaming divisions.
Earlier in April, the film and television arm of Sony Group also said it would eliminate hundreds of jobs. BLOOMBERG