Disney Begins Cutting 1,000 Jobs

LOS ANGELES, April 15 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- US entertainment and media giant Disney on Tuesday began cutting as many as 1,000 positions in one of the first significant moves under its new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, Xinhua reported.

In a memo obtained by media outlets, D'Amaro wrote, "We have experienced a great deal of change these last few years, both at the company and across our industries."

Disney "will be eliminating roles in some parts of the business and has begun notifying impacted employees," he said.

"Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney," D'Amaro wrote in his memo.

"Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow's needs," he said.

The CEO noted the layoffs reflect an ongoing review of how to more effectively manage resources and reinvest in the business.

The layoffs will ripple across Disney's television and movie studios, sports giant ESPN, its product and technology unit, corporate functions and marketing, reported the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source.

The report noted that Disney employed about 230,000 people at the end of last year, meaning the cuts will impact less than 1 per cent of its global workforce.

Like many Hollywood studios, Disney has been trying to adjust to the smaller profits it earns from streaming compared with what it used to make in linear television, as well as to diminished box office returns and intense competition from tech companies, according to the report.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA