Disney Cuts Several Hundred More Jobs, Third Round of 2026

Disney is laying off several hundred employees across multiple departments, the third round of job cuts this year under recently appointed CEO Josh D'Amaro, Variety confirmed on September 29, 2026.

The cuts fall primarily on human resources and IT staff, both at the corporate level and within individual divisions, according to a source familiar with the reductions. Deadline first reported the news.

The scale matters for context. Disney reported about 231,000 full- and part-time employees as of September 2025, the end of its fiscal year, so this week's reductions amount to a fraction of one percent of the workforce. But the cumulative pattern across 2026 tells a clearer story about where the company is shedding roles.

In April, Disney eliminated roughly 1,000 positions, primarily a consequence of D'Amaro's decision to consolidate enterprise marketing under Asad Ayaz, the chief marketing and brand officer. July brought a second wave: several hundred additional cuts across corporate functions, hitting Pixar, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and the studios. On the studios side, the majority of reductions came at Pixar; in the TV group, most fell at National Geographic.

In August, Disney extended early-retirement buyout packages to longtime executives as part of the same cost-cutting effort — a signal that the program has moved beyond reorganization-driven layoffs into voluntary separations for senior staff.

For workers reading the pattern, the sector-level detail matters more than the headline number. This week's round targets HR and IT — corporate overhead functions — rather than creative or production roles. The April round centered on marketing, following a structural consolidation. The July round concentrated in animation (Pixar) and cable factual programming (National Geographic), units that have faced the sharpest pressure from streaming economics.

What does this mean for an individual's market position? If you hold an HR or IT role at a large media conglomerate, Disney's third round of 2026 suggests these functions are now squarely in the cost-reduction crosshairs, and internal mobility at entertainment companies is tightening just as external hiring in those functions follows corporate-spending cycles. If you work in consolidated marketing, the April restructuring shows how a leadership-driven reorg can eliminate an entire layer of roles at once. And for longtime executives, the August buyouts indicate that tenure no longer insulates senior staff from separation — though it may convert layoffs into negotiated exits.

The sequencing also carries information. Three distinct rounds in roughly six months, each targeting a different function — marketing, creative units, then HR and IT — indicates a sustained, function-by-function review of the org chart rather than a single restructuring event. Employees in departments not yet touched have reason to model that risk rather than assume stability.

No severance terms, timelines for the current cuts, or headcount targets beyond "several hundred" have been disclosed. Disney has not said whether further rounds are planned, but the cadence of 2026 — April, July, September — suggests the cost-cutting program under D'Amaro remains active, and that corporate overhead roles at the company will stay under review heading into the new fiscal year.