The Walt Disney Company employs over 200,000 people around the world. Earlier this year we shared the news that they were cutting up to 1,000 employees in a major restructuring. This came soon after Josh D’Amaro became CEO. Now, there are more layoffs happening at Disney.
We’ll dive into what has been reported about the layoffs and the context on what is being cut at the company. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a look at a new Disney food partnership and a refresh to a hidden gem attraction.
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Disney Announces Hundreds More Layoffs
Disney is planning hundreds of layoffs across divisions at the company, The Hollywood Reporter shared this morning. The report stated that some corporate functions, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and film studios are all expected to be impacted. Pixar is expected to be the most impacted film studio and Nat Geo will be the most impacted within the Disney Entertainment Television group.
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Pixar has released two of the biggest movies of the year so far, Toy Story 5 and Hoppers.
At the time of this publishing, none of these layoffs have been reported to be impacting the Disney Experiences division which includes the theme parks.
ESPN is also going to experience cuts on screen and behind the scenes. Cuts at ESPN include on-air talent. Longtime SportsCenter anchor and Baseball Tonight host Karl Ravech, who has been with the company since 1993, and Ryan Clark, a former NFL player who has been an analyst for more than 10 years, are both leaving the channel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Most of the layoffs at ESPN are happening behind-the-scenes and are part of the acquisition of the NFL network earlier this year.
Here’s a memo from the Chairman of ESPN, Jimmy Pitaro, that went out to the company.
“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN. Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today. While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted. We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition.”
Employees have been notified on Tuesday morning about the layoffs according to The Hollywood Reporter.
We previously reported on the April layoffs that resulted in up to 1,000 people being impacted. This was part of Disney’s efforts to centralize marketing at the company under Asad Ayaz who took on a newly created Chief Marketing Officer title at Disney. Ayaz has been with Disney for over two decades and now leads marketing efforts for Disney Entertainment, Disney Experiences, and ESPN, effectively placing him in charge of all promotion for Disney’s tentpoles. Film, television, theme parks, consumer products, and sports all fall within the domain of those three sectors.
The April layoffs were part of a broader efficiency effort referred to as codeword “Project Imagine”, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. We are unsure if these new layoffs are also listed under the same codeword.
New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has identified his three priorities for the company and one of them was to establish themselves as “one Disney”. Here’s what he said to employees in a letter. This feels connected to this integration and resulting layoffs.
Third, we will operate as One Disney. Our greatest advantage is not any one business, but how our global businesses come together. When our teams are aligned and working in a connected way, we can build on our strengths, reach people wherever they are, and deepen their relationship with Disney.
You can see a separate memo that Josh D’Amaro sent out in April when discussing the need for restructuring the company for the future below. This memo was tied to the previous April layoffs.
“Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney,” D’Amaro wrote in his memo. “Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”
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