Disney plans several thousand layoffs and tells some managers to cut costs by up to 20%

Walt Disney is planning to cut several thousand jobs and has asked some managers to reduce costs by up to 20%, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. CNBC said Bloomberg was first to report the news; the New York Post carried a matching account. Disney has not confirmed the numbers, and none of the reports gives an exact headcount or says which divisions are affected.

Disney shares traded at $112.97 at 10:50 a.m. ET, down 0.1%, according to Nasdaq data, inside a 52-week range of $92.18 to $117.09.

The number behind the number

"Several thousand" is vague, so here is the scale. Disney had about 231,000 employees at the end of its fiscal 2025, according to its annual report as cited by CNBC. By our arithmetic, 3,000 jobs would be about 1.3% of that, and 5,000 would be about 2.2%. The reporting does not say which end of that range applies, so treat those as scale checks, not estimates.

What matters more is the sequence. This is the fourth reported round of cuts since D'Amaro became CEO this year:

• April: as many as 1,000 jobs, mainly in marketing, per CNBC.
• July: several hundred, mostly at Pixar and National Geographic, as we reported in September.
• September: about 300, mostly in human resources and technology.
• Now: several thousand, plus a cost-reduction ask of up to 20% for some managers.

Our September tally put the year's reported layoffs at roughly 1,600 to 2,300 jobs. If this round lands at even 3,000, it would more than double that total.

What the 20% target tells you

A cost ask of up to 20% handed to individual managers is a different instrument from a list of named departments. It pushes the decision on where to cut down the organization, which usually means cuts are spread across divisions rather than aimed at one function. CNBC's sources did not say how the 20% is measured or over what period, so we can't tell whether it means payroll, total spending or both.

Disney telegraphed the direction. In an Aug. 5 shareholder letter, D'Amaro and CFO Hugh Johnston wrote that the company is "highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise" and is "mid-stream in this work." An Aug. 24 memo from Chief People Officer Sonia Coleman said involuntary staff reductions "have already begun in some areas and will continue into next year," CNBC noted. An early-retirement program was introduced in August.

Who it hits

Disney is not alone. CNBC noted that Netflix said last month it would lay off roughly 6% of its workforce, so media is cutting from two directions at once: the legacy companies defending margins and the streamers resetting costs. Disney reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on Nov. 17, the next scheduled chance for the company to confirm a number.

The open question for investors is whether management puts a dollar target on the program. Our September piece noted that, unlike 2023, when Disney attached a $5.5 billion savings goal to 7,000 job cuts, this year's program has had no public cost target. A figure on Nov. 17 would let the market judge whether several thousand jobs is the whole plan or a first installment. More in our stocks section.

Sources: CNBC; New York Post; Bloomberg (first report; we have not read the full text); Nasdaq quote data; Chronicle archive. Percentages are Chronicle calculations. This is market information, not investment advice.