Disney Cuts Hundreds More Jobs as D'Amaro Tightens Costs

Disney is eliminating a couple of hundred more positions, according to Deadline, in the third round of layoffs the company has carried out in 2026 under CEO Josh D'Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger in March.

Roughly a month into his tenure, Disney eliminated about 1,000 roles, with marketing teams across the studios, television networks, ESPN, product and technology, and corporate operations bearing the brunt. A second round followed in July, when several hundred more jobs were cut. Pixar was hit particularly hard on the studio side, primarily across production and operations, while National Geographic saw the majority of Disney Entertainment Television's reductions. ESPN also lost staff as it integrated NFL Network.

Where the current cuts land

This round is smaller than the previous two. It concentrates on shared corporate functions — technology and human resources — rather than Disney's core creative operations. Disney Entertainment Television is reportedly untouched, despite a major restructuring expected under its new leader, Debra OConnell. The motion picture studio is also exempt.

For corporate-function professionals, the signal is direct: back-office roles at major media companies are the first target when cost programs accelerate, and tenured creative positions are being insulated, for now.

Legal is shrinking too

Days before the layoffs were reported, Disney's chief legal and global affairs officer, Horacio Gutierrez, warned employees that his division would become "a much smaller organization." His September 18 memo outlined plans to automate some workflows, adopt self-service systems, use alternative legal providers, and outsource certain work. Gutierrez said the transformation would require "hard choices" around staffing and investment. Disney's Legal and Global Affairs operation employs fewer than 1,000 people worldwide, though reductions there are separate from the wider round now underway.

The early-retirement signal

The cuts also follow Disney's voluntary early retirement offer for employees aged 50 or older who hold at least a director-level position and have spent 10 or more years at the company. Deadline noted that such programs often precede involuntary layoffs, and the offer's cooling-off period ended this past weekend.

D'Amaro had already signaled that more trimming was coming. In Disney's August 5 shareholder letter, he and CFO Hugh Johnston said the company remained focused on reducing costs, including through potential labor and SG&A cuts, adding that Disney was still "mid-stream in this work."

Context: still below Iger-era cuts

Even with three rounds in one year, the current scale remains far below the reductions Bob Iger oversaw after his 2022 return. Disney cut roughly 8,000 jobs between 2023 and 2025, contributing to $7.5 billion in cost savings — significantly above the original target.

The layoffs also land amid a public feud over Disney's cost-cutting history. Bob Chapek, Iger's successor and predecessor as CEO, defends his own record as a cost-cutter in a new book, Behind the Castle Walls, arguing his push for efficiency and higher returns was treated as a liability. Chapek stands by decisions that made him unpopular with fans, including aggressive theme-park price increases and charging for previously free services, and he claims profit grew during his tenure leading the parks. In a CNBC interview, he said Iger was "actually working against me, actively."

With D'Amaro describing the cost program as "mid-stream," corporate-function employees at Disney should expect further reductions before the effort concludes.