The Walt Disney Company employs over 200,000 people across its theme parks, film studios, and various media departments worldwide. These are the people building Disney’s rides of tomorrow and brandishing its niche in the streaming market, among pursuits of other company-wide priorities. Following a pattern from earlier this year, Disney is letting employees go as some of those priorities come into play.
Disney is laying off hundreds in its latest round of cuts as the company evaluates its use of tech. We dive into the context of these cuts and what’s been reported so far. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Disney’s new PhotoPass AI test drawing complaints and privacy concerns and Disney ride closures for refurbishment in October.
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Disney’s Third Round of Layoffs in 2026
Josh D’Amaro replaced Bob Iger as CEO of The Walt Disney Company in March 2026, stepping into the role during a time of changes within Disney and as conversations escalate globally around AI. Since D’Amaro’s installation as CEO, Disney has inflicted several rounds of layoffs.
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In April, up to 1,000 employees were laid off following Disney’s efforts to centralize marketing at the company.
In July, several hundred employees were laid off from areas such as Disney Entertainment Television, with Nat Geo most impacted; film studios, with Pixar most impacted; corporate functions; and ESPN.
Now, Disney is undergoing another set of layoffs, this time affecting several hundred employees in tech and HR, according to Deadline. Today’s layoffs are fewer than the two previous rounds of layoffs earlier this year.
The layoffs, Deadline says, come shortly after a voluntary early retirement offer for some employees, which can sometimes indicate incoming cuts.
The newest layoffs do not reportedly affect Disney’s film studio or television sectors.
These cuts are also not set to hit Disney theme park cast members. We recently heard from Disney that Walt Disney World plans to create more than 5,000 jobs over the next five years. They framed the job creation as adding thousands of opportunities for growth and advancement as the resort continues to expand.
One of the affected areas seems to be Legal and Global Affairs (LGA). Disney’s Chief LGA Officer Horacio Gutierrez sent an email to LGA employees earlier this month, Deadline reports, saying “hard choices” were coming as the department becomes “a much smaller organization” as Disney begins “automating certain workflows by leveraging the latest technologies.”
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During Disney’s most recent company earnings presentation, D’Amaro mapped out the ways in which consumers and employees will see AI utilized across all of Disney.
For example, D’Amaro highlighted how Disney was working to unify consumer data across the company. Disney has a breadth of data across parks, streaming, and studios, D’Amaro said, and “no one else can connect the fan experience the way that we can.”
Disney is also testing AI vacation planning features on Disney World’s website. Some of Disney’s AI integration is more cosmetic than efficiency-driven, like a controversial PhotoPass test happening at the Haunted Mansion.
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