Another wave of layoffs will
be coming soon to the “House of Mouse”.
Bloomberg reported this week that Disney execs are mandating a “20% cost
savings” across the board, including 1000’s of layoffs. This is only the latest round of layoffs at Disney, coming
after previous rounds ordered by former CEO Bob Iger after his return to the
CEO position in 2023. His replacement Josh
D’Amaro took has continued with his own layoffs after taking over from Iger in
March 2026.
Some Disney employees
reacted with disbelief and anger, voicing their displeasure
during a town hall meeting where they pressed leaders to
articulate the rationale for the staff reduction. These cuts would seem to be coming at a time
of strength for the company, who’s stock price has rallied by more than 20% in
the last six months.
In a recent interview conducted
by Bloomberg’s
Lucas Shaw, Disney President Dana Walden was asked, “how are there
still people to fire” when thousands of people have already been laid off? Walden shot back to Shaw that this seemed to
her to be, “the snarkiest possible version of that question”, explaining that each
wave of layoffs has been painful but necessary, now that technology has set its
sights on the business. It’s clear
Disney, along with other media companies such as Skydance, Sony and Netflix are
being forced to use layoffs to cut costs and maintain their financial strength.
