Disney Cuts Thousands Of Jobs Amidst Latest Restructuring & Costs Trimming; “I Do Not Make This Decision Lightly,” Bob Iger Says
09.02.2023 - 01:19
/ deadline.com
The Walt Disney Company will be laying off thousands of employees as a part of a new round of cost cutting measures, CEO Bob Iger revealed today.
Speaking on the House of Mouse’s Q1 earning call this afternoon with CFO Christine McCarthy, Iger said that 7,000 jobs would be let go from the now 100-year-old company. “I have enormous respect and appreciate for the dedication of our employees worldwide,” Iger said. “While this is necessary to address the challenges we face today, I do not make this decision lightly.”
Larger than anticipated, the layoffs will be across almost all of Disney’s empire.
However, with domestic employees hit the hardest, the cuts will be fairly light in the company’s thriving Parks and Resort division. No stranger to job losses over the past three years in various contexts, Disney has about 220,000 employees globally — which would see today’s cuts effect just over 3% of the company. Termed later as “efficiencies” by CFO McCarthy, a significant number of the “reductions” will come from the now-hollowed out DMED “marketing and headcount.”
RELATED: Disney Earnings Report & Reorganization – Full Coverage
Full of announced new structures and “significant transformations,” to quote Iger himself today, Wednesday’s strong-ish quarterly earnings are the first since the former long-serving CEO became the CEO again late last year.
Taking back the reigns with haste, Iger told a November 22, 2022 town hall that the hiring freeze his newly pink-slipped predecessor Bob Chapek put in place just weeks before to stem the financial bleeding would remain. In a memo to Disney executives on November 11, Chapek had also said that job cuts were coming down the line — an endgame of sort that arrived today.
Intended