People gather at the Magic Kingdom theme park before the “Festival of Fantasy” parade at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, the United States, July 30, 2022.
Octavio Jones | Reuters
Disney plans to begin its next phase of cost cutting, which will include up to 1,000 layoffs, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The cost-cutting initiative comes shortly after Josh D’Amaro took over as CEO in mid-March.
The layoffs are expected to primarily affect Disney’s marketing department, according to the person, who asked to speak anonymously because the moves had not yet been made public. This department was recently consolidated under the leadership of Asad Ayaz, who was appointed director of marketing and brand in January.
Ayaz, who reports directly to D’Amaro and Dana Walden, Disney’s president and chief creative officer, oversees marketing for all of Disney’s divisions – entertainment, experiences and sports – in the newly created role. This is the first time that Disney has consolidated all of its units under a single marketing manager.
Disney stock was down slightly Thursday afternoon. The layoffs were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The changes in the structure of the marketing department took place in January, when Bob Iger was still CEO of the company. Disney announced shortly after that D’Amaro would return to the top job – a highly anticipated move for the company.
D’Amaro, who previously served as president of Disney Experiences, took over from Iger after a period of uncertainty for the media and theme park giant – which included a succession race and a recent company reorganization and turnaround.
Iger reclaimed the role as Disney CEO in late 2022, about two years after his initial departure. He was immediately tasked with turning around the company as its stock price fell and profits began to fall short of expectations.
In February 2023, Disney announced ambitious plans to revamp the company’s structure, cut costs by $5.5 billion and cut 7,000 jobs.
On D’Amaro’s first official day as CEO in March, he highlighted the work Iger did to get the company through one of its most difficult periods.
“When Bob returned to the company a few years ago, his goal was to strengthen our business and lay the foundation for long-term growth, by reinvigorating creativity and improving performance in our studios, building a strong and profitable streaming business, transforming ESPN for a digital future and energizing our parks and experiences,” D’Amaro said on stage at the company’s investor day.
“We have accomplished all of these things and we are operating from a position of strength, with ample opportunity for growth.”