Disney's latest layoffs target thousands amid 20% savings push

By Sophie Lindqvist

Disney is targeting thousands of job cuts while managers across its entertainment empire have been tasked with achieving 20% in annual cost savings, according to Bloomberg, making the latest round potentially the company's largest reduction of the current campaign.

The headline figure is a target, not a final tally. Bloomberg's report does not state Disney's total workforce, the planned cut count by country, or whether managers' 20% assignments share a common cost base. The material contains no national hiring, unemployment or wage series, so these announcements cannot establish a wider labor-market trend.

How large is the cumulative reduction?

• Bob Iger's return as CEO began with 7,000 job cuts through early 2023; the cost-cutting campaign then continued throughout his second stint.
• Smaller reductions in 2024 included a 14% headcount cut at Pixar and a 13% cut at National Geographic, alongside broader reductions across Disney's television units.
• By March 2025, Disney cut 6% of its workforce, or some 200 roles, across ABC News and other television units, and shut the news-and-data-analytics website FiveThirtyEight.
• A couple of months later, several hundred employees across film, television and corporate finance were let go.

The March figures need a denominator caveat: the reporting links 6% with roughly 200 roles at ABC News and other television units but does not say whether that percentage applies to those units or a larger population.

The source also says former FiveThirtyEight election analysts remained influential in polling analysis during this midterm cycle, although it gives no separate job-loss total for the closure.

What changed under Josh D'Amaro?

The Iger era ended when Josh D'Amaro took over earlier this year. About 1,000 layoffs followed almost immediately in mid-March, and rolling cuts continued through summer across Marvel, ESPN, Pixar and National Geographic.

In August, Disney offered early retirement buyouts to many veteran executives. In September, it announced several hundred reductions, mostly in human resources and information technology, marking the third layoff round of D'Amaro's first six months.

That sequence matters for applicants: Disney was still cutting after its chief executive transition rather than completing the restructuring under Iger. The reporting contains no net hiring figure, so it cannot show whether new roles offset any losses.

Where are jobs most exposed?

Bloomberg reported that theme parks, television channels and the movie studio will bear a disproportionate share of the latest measures. For candidates, those are the clearest named areas of contraction; the report gives no vacancy count, seniority breakdown or location.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Disney was in the early stages of a major restructuring of its television business. Disney aimed to reorient the operation toward streaming and away from declining linear television and cable.

Disney is trying to reconcile those cuts with a promise of "double-digit earnings per share growth" in the current fiscal year. Bloomberg reported that D'Amaro has pledged to institute a "culture of efficiency." The reporting does not show how much of the savings comes from headcount rather than other costs.

Does this signal a wider labor-market trend?

Netflix and the new-look Skydance have also announced layoff plans in recent months, placing Disney within a wider pattern of media-company retrenchment. The source provides no headcount, timing or stated reason for those plans and offers no national comparison, so it supports a sector observation rather than a labor-market forecast.

For an individual applicant, the practical conclusion is narrower: openings in parks, television and studio functions face contraction, while human resources and information technology cannot be presumed safe because September's reductions fell mostly there. The reporting lists no open roles or required skills, so it cannot establish which occupations retain the best prospects.

What remains unknown?

The Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal reports are named sources, but they do not provide a sample size, estimation method or revision schedule, as a statistical hiring series would. Missing details include the exact cut total, severance terms, geographic distribution, redeployment plans and whether attrition will absorb work.

Consequently, the claim that the latest round could be the largest cannot be independently tested from the available figures. For affected workers, the absence of severance and location detail also prevents a reliable comparison among offers or markets.

What to watch next?

The next test is whether Disney reaches 20% savings without another layoff round while delivering the promised double-digit earnings-per-share growth; the reporting supplies neither a savings baseline nor a deadline.