The Walt Disney Company is the latest media and technology sector major to resort to layoffs to “help achieve” cost savings. The House of Mouse is planning to lay off 7,000 employees across the network.
The layoffs at Disney follow similar moves by US tech giants that have terminated thousands of employees as companies dial back a hiring spurt that began during the height of the pandemic.
The announcement was made by CEO Bob Iger in an earnings call on Wednesday after Disney posted its latest quarterly results. While justifying the move as “necessary to address the challenges we’re facing today”, Iger said that the company was “targeting $5.5 billion of cost savings” and that the layoffs will “help achieve this”.
As per CNBC, as soon as Iger took back the CEO reins at Disney from Bob Chapek last November, layoff rumours began to circulate. Since returning to the helm at Disney after stepping down from the role in 2020, Iger has instituted a major structural overhaul, establishing three core divisions at Disney: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks. Iger’s immediate aim is to put Disney’s streaming business on a path to growth and profitability while restoring decision-making to the company’s creative leaders.
According to a report by Reuters, this marks Disney’s third restructuring in five years and marks a new chapter in the leadership of Iger, who first became CEO in 2005.
“Our priority is the enduring growth and profitability of our streaming business. Our current forecasts indicate Disney Plus will hit profitability by the end of fiscal 2024, and achieving that remains our goal,” Iger said in the earning call.
AFP reports that investors were reassured by Disney’s lower-than-expected operating losses for its streaming platforms at $1 billion for the October to December period.
Across its vast entertainment empire, the Disney Group saw revenues of $23.5 billion for the three month period, better than analysts had hoped.
According to its 2021 annual report, the group employed 190,000 people worldwide as of October 2 of that year, 80 percent of whom were full-time.
