Disney Expected to Make 7,000 Layoffs Amid Continued Restructuring
By Movieguide® Contributor
On Wednesday, Disney announced plans to lay off 7,000 employees as the company restructures, dividing the company into three divisions.
The reorganization of the entertainment giant would dismantle the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution group created by former Disney CEO Bob Chapek in 2020. Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said that this change could save the company $5.5 billion.
“Our new structure is aimed at returning greater authority to our creative leaders and making them accountable for how their content performs financially,” Bob Iger, Disney’s current CEO, said.
“Our former structure severed that link and must be restored. Moving forward, our creative teams will determine what content we’re making, how it is distributed and monetized, and how it gets marketed,” he added.
The new structure will consist of three divisions.
Disney Entertainment will oversee the movie and TV assets, including Disney+. ESPN will head ESPN and ESPN+, while Parks, Experiences and Products will oversee the theme parks and consumer products.
The 7,000 jobs set to be cut would represent about 3 percent of the company’s workforce. Due to the nature of the company’s reorganization, many of these job cuts are expected to occur in the Disney Entertainment and ESPN divisions rather than in Parks, Experiences and Products.
This restructuring comes at a crucial time for Iger, as this plan is released alongside Disney’s first earnings report since Iger returned to the company.
While the company’s Q4 revenue and Disney+ subscriptions performed slightly better than projected, investors are still waiting for Iger’s plan to expand streaming and improve profitability.
Iger’s return as CEO in 2022 came with a renewed focus on creativity. This restructure is expected to help the mission as he returns greater authority to the company’s creative teams.
Movieguide® previously reported on what Iger’s as return CEO could mean for Disney:
As The Walt Disney Co. looks to course correct with Bob Iger at the helm—after Bob Chapek’s exit—they would do well to listen to their largest audience, families.
Iger is no stranger to the Disney CEO position, as he held the title previously from 2005 to 2020 before Chapek took the reins.
The longtime Disney executive met with the company for the first time as their new CEO and discussed the hiring freeze, which he said would remain in place for the time being.
According to CNN Business, Iger believes creativity will result in profitability.
Iger made his goal clear for the company in a recent town hall meeting: spend less resources “chasing subs with aggressive marketing and aggressive spend on content,” and start “chasing profitability.”
“A number of you who worked with me know I’m obsessed with [creativity],” Iger explained. “But I’m obsessed with that for a reason. It is what drives the company.”
Whether a direct result of Chapek’s leadership or just unfortunate timing, Disney’s push into progressive themes in their movies and Disney+ series became a clear indicator of the company’s disregard for their audience.
While Disney’s legacy is built on family-friendly staples like FINDING NEMO and TOY STORY, Disney’s recent outings at the box office have ostracized families across the country and, as a result, fallen short of monetary expectations.
For example, STRANGE WORLD is on course to lose around $100M after an unsuccessful opening over Thanksgiving weekend.
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