Disney has begun another wave of layoffs as part of a cost-saving initiative. Today, Variety confirmed that roughly 300 employees from various corporate departments have been axed.
This new round of Disney layoffs has affected its human resources, legal, finance and other departments based in the United States.
No parks, ESPN or Disney Entertainment divisions have been impacted this round, though they have already experienced their own layoffs this year. In July, Disney Entertainment Television let go of 140 employees, representing 2% of their workforce. Pixar laid off 177 employees in May, representing 14% of its workforce.
“We continually evaluate ways to invest in our businesses and more effectively manage our resources and costs to fuel the state-of-the-art creativity and innovation that consumers value and expect from Disney,” a Disney spokesperson said to Variety. “As part of this ongoing optimization work, we have been reviewing the cost structure for our corporate-level functions and have determined there are ways for them to operate more efficiently.”
Disney has been consistently looking for ways to cut costs since Bob Iger (The Pixar Story, One Day at Disney) returned as CEO in 2022. While a brutal blow to the employees let go, this year’s cuts are a far cry from the roughly 7,000 employees laid off in 2023, which represented 3.2% of the entire company’s workforce.
Last month, Disney projected a profitable end to the 2024 fiscal year, which ends September 30. The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share growth target from 25% to 30%. In June, Disney reported its first profitable quarter for the consolidated direct-to-consumer streaming business, which includes all of its streaming services. However, Disney theme parks declined 6% in the June quarter.
Disney is not the only media company experiencing mass layoffs and cost-cutting. In August, Paramount announced its agenda to cut 15% of its U.S.-based jobs in addition to shutting down its television studio. In July, Fox Entertainment cut roughly 30 positions during restructuring at the company. Warner Bros. Discovery announced its layoffs in the same month.