The Magic Kingdom might be losing a magic 4,000 jobs, according to a new report that says Disney is considering another round of layoffs for April 2023.
Disney previously slimmed its workforce by 7,000 positions in February, but the entertainment conglomerate doesn’t appear to be impervious to the tech world’s ongoing second rounds of layoffs.
If the new report proves true, Disney is joining Meta and Amazon, both of which have recently announced thousands of jobs soon to be cut, and all of whom have now issued two large rounds of layoffs in recent months.
Disney Aims to Save $5.5 Billion
The report, first covered by Business Insider, won’t clear up everything: We still don’t know if the layoffs will be arriving in batches or all at once, for instance.
But according to Insider, Disney has already directed its managers to plan out budget cuts and put together lists of employees to be laid off. It’s all part of CEO Bob Iger’s plan to eventually reach $5.5 billion in spending cuts — the same longterm goal that the first round of cuts was pushing toward.
In addition to the estimated 4,000 employees that will be trimmed, Disney expects more cuts to come from open roles, the report says.
Disney’s Future Plans
Igor has a sweeping plan to restructure Disney.
The entertainment giant is currently doing a lot of things he doesn’t like: Following his initial February call with investment analysts in which he first announced his plans to cut $5.5 billion in costs, Igor has said that Disney charges too much for theme parks, that it doesn’t charge enough for its streaming service, that Marvel makes too many sequels as opposed to original character introductions, and that he might sell Disney’s stake in Hulu.
All these plans to shake up the Disney model help to set these new job cuts apart from the rest of the tech world.
We’ve covered plenty of massive layoffs at the biggest tech companies in the past few months, and most of them tend to stick to opaque buzzwords. Amazon likes calling the economy “uncertain,” while Meta says it’s aiming for “efficiency.” Disney, however, is changing how it operates.
Will that be enough to boost efficiency amid an uncertain economy? Well, it has worked out for the entertainment company in the past.
