Disney is preparing another round of layoffs, this time asking managers in television networks and the motion picture studio to find cost reductions that, in some units, reach 20% on an annual basis. The new round is expected to touch thousands of roles across multiple divisions. Deadline reports the timing remains unclear and Disney has not commented, but the direction is unmistakable: the savings drive that began under new CEO Josh D’Amaro is nowhere near finished.
The cuts follow a full year of reductions since D’Amaro replaced Bob Iger on March 18. Disney’s global headcount sat just north of 230,000 at the end of its latest fiscal year. That scale makes a 20% target in select divisions significant for the screen business, because it touches the people who greenlight, market, sell and produce film and television.
The cuts so far
Disney has not waited for a single announcement. The year’s cuts have arrived in waves:
- April: 1,000 roles eliminated.
- July: several hundred more, with Pixar and National Geographic among the most affected.
- September: a couple of hundred cuts in tech and HR.
- Last week: 100–200 roles in Experiences, mostly at Imagineering in Glendale.
The company also completed a Voluntary Early Retirement Offer for senior executives. Sources told Deadline that more eligible managers opted in than expected—a signal that the program did part of the work before the next round of layoffs begins.
Why this matters for screen businesses
At Bloomberg’s Screentime conference last month, Disney President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden pointed to technology competitors as a reason for continuous restructuring. The framing inside Disney is that this is an operating reset, not a retreat.
D’Amaro has framed the savings as more than survival. At the latest earnings call he said, When our teams work smarter, we can serve more people across our parks and digital platforms and do it more cost-effectively.
He said the capital would be reinvested in new content, next-generation guest experiences and technology infrastructure.
That matters for media planners and entertainment marketers. A leaner Disney does not automatically mean a smaller content budget. It can mean fewer decision-makers, more selective project approvals, and a sales and partnerships organisation that moves differently.
How to read the next few months
The practical takeaway is to track where Disney reinvests rather than assume an across-the-board freeze. Some divisions will be cut deeper than others; the 20% figure is a ceiling in certain teams, not a company-wide mandate. For ad buyers and producers, that suggests mapping Disney’s TV, film and Experiences units separately and watching which slates and ad products still get resource.
Source: Deadline
