 "Disney")
By Thomas Buckley and Lucas Shaw
Walt Disney Co. plans to start cutting thousands of jobs next week, including about 15% of the staff in its entertainment division, people familiar with the matter said.
The cuts will span TV, film, theme parks and corporate positions, and affect every region where Disney operates, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. Some affected workers will be notified as early as April 24.
The company declined to comment.
Disney said in February 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 in annual costs.
The cuts are coming across the company, the people said, including at Disney Entertainment, which was created in a restructuring this year as home to the company’s movie and TV production and distribution businesses, including streaming.
As part of that restructuring, Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger moved to restore authority to creative executives. He elevated key lieutenants including Alan Bergman and Dana Walden, the co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment.
As part of that effort, the company is paring its commitment to general entertainment, focusing more on franchise properties and well-recognized brands. As a result, the entertainment division will be a focus of the cuts.
Every major media company, including Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Paramount Global, is trimming 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 returned to lead Disney after a $1.47 billion quarterly loss in the company’s streaming business precipitated the ouster of his hand-picked successor, Bob Chapek.
