Disney Completes Final Round of Layoffs
The Walt Disney Company has just completed its third and final round of layoffs. Here’s what you need to know.
What Caused the Layoffs?
Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake
As a reminder of how we reached this point, Disney’s then-CEO, Bob Chapek, befriended activist investor, Nelson Peltz.
Chapek failed to recognize the danger that Peltz represented. Disney’s Board of Directors did, though.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
They fired Chapek and brought back Bob Iger as CEO. We’ve talked a lot about this shocker since then, including in our podcast:
Upon his return, Iger immediately turned his attention toward Peltz and the threat he posed.
Iger forced the billionaire to end his bid to force his way onto Disney’s Board of Directors.
To thwart Peltz and his cohort, Isaac Perlmutter, Iger agreed to trim $5.5 billion from the budget.
Photo: AP
Disney reduced its overhead by cutting streaming/linear television expenses and performing three rounds of layoffs.
Hilariously, one of the people Disney laid off was Perlmutter, who still technically worked at Marvel at the time.
Frustratingly, the rest of these layoffs were brutal for all involved, though.
How Disney Performed Its 2023 Layoffs
Photo: TIME
Iger decided to spread the waves of layoffs across several months, which has kept Disney workers on pins and needles for the body of 2023.
During the first round of layoffs, Disney eliminated 300 of its workers in China.
In North America, Disney primarily focused on its media divisions, especially ABC News.
Throughout the ordeal, reports indicated that the second wave would include the most savage round of cuts, and that’s what happened.
Disney officials terminated 15 percent of the entertainment division.
Those layoffs included casting executives, the head of ESPN+, and some of the architects of Disney+.
Throughout the first two rounds of layoffs, Disney had hinted that it would leave its theme park division alone, at least for the most part.
We all held our breath while waiting for the third round of cuts. Now, I’m happy to report that Disney kept to its word.
The Final Round of Layoffs
Pirates of the Caribbean evacuation
According to Variety, Disney notified “the remaining employees impacted in its third round of job cuts last Friday ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.”
The article summarizes that Disney has finished “these companywide layoffs, which focused most heavily on the media divisions and left the parks largely untouched, ahead of the summer.”
Photo: Universal
Obviously, a lot can change, as Disney reportedly continues to debate more international layoffs.
Still, the company has met its goal of 7,000 layoffs and thereby ensured that Nelson Peltz and his ilk will stay away and let Iger cook.
Photo: Disney
Disney had employed 220,000 people worldwide before these layoffs.
So, The Walt Disney Company has just terminated roughly 3.2 percent of its workforce in 2023.
Let us never speak of it again. Because this really sucked.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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