Disney plans job cuts, hiring freeze in a bid to reduce cost

Walt Disney has issued an internal memo to its executives to reduce its operations cost. The company has lost billions over the past few years. Therefore, Disney has announced job cuts to reduce its workforce. Moreover, the company has also instituted a targeted hiring freeze.

CEO’s Memo

An internal memo was leaked which was issued by the Disney CEO Bob Chapek. The memo stated that the company is limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze. “Hiring for the small subset of the most critical, business-driving positions will continue, but all other roles are on hold. Your segment leaders and HR teams have more specific details on how this will apply to your teams. As we work through this evaluation process, we will look at every avenue of operations and labor to find savings, and we do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review.” The memo stated.

Disney reported losses

Furthermore, the move came after Disney reported disappointing financial results. Its shares went down by 11 percent. Moreover, their various streaming services reported a loss of $1.5bn. The CEO’s memo also targeted cost cutting in this segment. In addition, the company will also increase price of their streaming services. Disney has also directed its executives to limit their business travel. Moreover, the company also emphasized on moving to virtual and online meetings where possible.

Job cuts in entertainment industry

Currently Disney is employing approximately 190,000 employees. Alongside Disney, many other media and entertainment companies including Warner Bros, Netflix and Discovery have initiated job cuts in wake of soaring profits. However, Disney has not announced any plans to eliminate jobs. Similarly, the trend is much severe in digital media sector. Twitter has announced to lay off 3,700 employees which is around 50% of its total workforce. Whereas, Meta has announced to cut 11,000 jobs.

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