Disney proposes "thousands" of layoffs around the world

BarcelonaThe entertainment company Disney is considering laying off "thousands" of employees worldwide and has asked some of its executives to identify measures to reduce its annual costs by 20%. According to information published this Tuesday by Bloomberg, the cuts would affect the workforce and other measures that involve the group's various divisions unequally, including theme parks, the television business, and film studios.

As the media outlet points out, Disney's CEO, Josh D'Amaro, intends to reinvest part of the freed-up resources into the production of films and television content, technology, theme parks, and the cruise business.

At the close of its last fiscal year, the entertainment company had 231,000 employees worldwide, of whom about 172,000 work in the United States.

Warnings and precedents

Staff cuts are not new to the group either, which warned its shareholders last August that it was evaluating new measures to contain expenses, including possible staff reductions. Just this September, the management laid off hundreds of workers from its human resources and technology departments, after having eliminated an additional thousand jobs in April.

In 2023, the company had already executed another large wave of layoffs. Then, and under the framework of a program promoted by the predecessor of the current CEO to save 5.5 billion dollars (4.912 billion euros at the current exchange rate), Disney dismissed a total of 7,000 workers.

The plan envisioned under the leadership of Josh D'Amaro comes in a context marked by the advancement of artificial intelligence, box office revenues that are trending downward, increasingly fierce competition among online content platforms, and a slowdown in international visits to its theme parks.

All of this, under a scenario also recently marked by its tussles with the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, who ordered the ABC network –under the corporate management of The Walt Disney Company– a review of its licenses with the intent to investigate and consider the cessation of the media outlet's activity.