Disney hit by major global layoffs across TV & film entertainment, corporate finance
Hundreds of staffers impacted in largest round of job cuts in 10 months, affecting marketing, casting, publicity, and finance teams across Disney Entertainment.
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In what is being described as the largest round of job cuts in recent months, The Walt Disney Company began laying off several hundred employees globally on Monday, according to a report by Deadline.
The layoffs span Disney Entertainment's film and television divisions, hitting departments such as marketing, publicity, casting, and development, as well as Disney's corporate financial operations.
While no entire teams have been disbanded, the cuts are substantial, particularly in Los Angeles where many of the Disney Entertainment Television employees are based.
The reductions are part of Disney's larger transformation strategy as the company pivots more aggressively toward streaming, amid broader industry pressure and economic uncertainty.
This marks the fourth and most extensive wave of layoffs at Disney over the past 10 months. In total, the entertainment giant has been executing a sweeping cost-reduction plan targeting at least $7.5 billion in savings since CEO Bob Iger returned to helm the company in late 2022. That strategy has already resulted in the elimination of about 7,000 roles across the organization in 2023 alone, the report added.
Previous rounds of job cuts included:
- March 2025: Nearly 200 positions, including around 6% of the workforce at ABC News Group and across Disney’s entertainment networks like Freeform and FX.
- October 2024: The shutdown of ABC Signature and the merger of ABC and Hulu scripted content teams, leading to about 30 layoffs.
- July 2024: Around 140 staffers were let go, including 60 employees from National Geographic.
Despite the job losses, Disney's recent financial performance has shown signs of recovery. Its second-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations, buoyed by robust earnings from its experiences segment - including theme parks - and a healthy uptick in direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming profits. Operating profit in the streaming segment rose by $289 million to $336 million.
At Disney’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this year, Iger stressed that while the company is cutting costs in traditional media, it is also creating new roles, particularly in its thriving parks and experiences division.
The latest cuts come just as other legacy media companies are facing similar turbulence. NBCUniversal recently confirmed layoffs and structural changes as it prepares to spin off several cable channels into a new entity, Versant, the report added.
