The Walt Disney Company is once again laying off employees to more effectively manage “resources and costs.”
©Disney | Walt Disney Company Headquarters
A new wave of layoffs has affected about 300 employees at Disney.
According to Deadline, a new wave of layoffs began at Disney on September 24th, 2024. The layoffs are expected to affect about 300 employees with the possibility of more. The positions that were laid off are all based in the United States and were a part of Disney’s corporate operations. Departments including legal, HR, finance, and communications were among the departments affected by layoffs.
©Disney
In a statement to Deadline, a Disney spokesperson stated, “We continually evaluate ways to invest in our businesses and more effectively manage our resources and costs to fuel the state-of-the-art creativity and innovation that consumers value and expect from Disney. As part of this ongoing optimization work, we have been reviewing the cost structure for our corporate-level functions and have determined there are ways for them to operate more efficiently.”
©Disney
Deadline reported that Parks, ESPN, and Disney Entertainment were not affected by layoffs during this round. Unfortunately, the Walt Disney Company is no stranger to layoffs as the company has aimed to reduce spending by cutting jobs. The company has been in cost-cutting mode which has resulted in the layoffs of thousands of employees.
The Walt Disney Company
Disney was hit hard by the global pandemic, suffering an adverse impact of about $7.4 billion dollars. Following the pandemic, Disney laid off 32,000 employees in 2020. However, that layoffs have continued and in 2023 there were three rounds of layoffs. During these layoffs, the first two rounds focused heavily on the entertainment division of the company, both in the parks and on the media side of things. While the third round of layoffs seemed to affect no particular division of the company.
The Walt Disney Company headquarters in California
As well, in 2024, massive layoffs affected Pixar when 14% of the workforce was laid off. As well, layoffs happened in departments across the television division including local stations, the Freeform cable network, and general marketing and publicity departments. National Geographic also saw a large layoff with 13% of its staff being let go.
©Disney
Our thoughts are with all of the employees, families, and colleagues who have been affected by the layoffs. Stay tuned to DFB for more news about The Walt Disney Company.
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
I wish the best for these folks just laid off. Bob Iger’s leadership is simply depressing. He has no vision, no artistic or creative skills, he has tainted the once-vaunted Disney brand by injection divisive social politics into everything, and he is an uninspiring business leader. My heart breaks for all the Disney Castmembers doing their best under this overrated and worn out leader.