Walt Disney To Layoff Employees Again?

Walt Disney Co continues to follow the footsteps of several big companies laying off its employees in the new financial year. The leading global entertainment company is planning to cut thousands of positions next week, including about 15% of the staff in its entertainment division, reports suggest.

The layoff is expected across TV, film, theme parks and corporate positions, and will affect all regions where Disney operates. The action will mainly be for the Disney Entertainment segment, which was created in restructuring this year as home to the company's movie and TV production and distribution businesses, including streaming, said the people aware of the matter refusing to be identified.

Those who would be affected will be notified as early as April 24. The company didn't respond to requests for comment.

Disney had in February said it planned to eliminate 7,000 positions from its workforce of more than 220,000, part of an overall strategy to shave 5.5 billion USD in annual costs.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger moved to restore authority to creative executives, as part of that restructuring, He promoted key personnel including Alan Bergman and Dana Walden, the co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment.

The company is paring its commitment to general entertainment, focusing more on franchise properties and well-recognised brands while restructuring. And therefore the focus on job cuts in the entertainment division.

Every major media company, including Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Paramount Global, has been reducing its headcount as Wall Street's attention shifts from subscriber growth in streaming to the high cost of operating online video platforms.

In November, Iger was re-appointed to lead Disney after a whopping quarterly loss of 1.47 billion USD in the company's streaming business precipitated the ouster of his hand-picked successor, Bob Chapek.