Disney is laying off employees for the third time since CEO Josh D’Amaro took the top job in mid-March.
The Mouse House is cutting several hundred employees across teams, including tech and HR, a person familiar with the move confirmed to Business Insider. Deadline first reported Tuesday’s cuts.
This round of layoffs impacts fewer workers than Disney’s previous staff reductions this year, a second person familiar with the changes said.
Disney did a major round of layoffs in mid-April, less than a month after D’Amaro took over for longtime CEO Bob Iger. These cuts came as Disney shook up its marketing organization, though staffers on other teams, including some at ESPN, were also impacted.
D’Amaro said in an April memo that the cuts were “not a reflection of their contributions, or of the overall strength of the company.”
Another round of cuts came in July. ESPN was hit especially hard as the sports giant integrated employees from the NFL Network, which it acquired earlier this year.
Laid-off Disney employees get severance based on their rank and tenure. Non-managers who’ve been at the company for less than five years get four weeks of pay, while those who’ve been there more than five years get one week of pay a year for up to 52 weeks.
D’Amaro has made his mark on Disney by emphasizing unity and collaboration across teams, prioritizing a streaming super app, and investing in AI and tech, including by hiring the first-ever company-wide tech chief in mid-September.
“Our performance reflects the strength of our businesses, the enduring power of our stories and brands, and, most importantly, the extraordinary work you do every day,” D’Amaro told employees in August after the company exceeded earnings expectations.
Disney shares are up 6% since D’Amaro took over on March 18. US stocks, as measured by the S&P 500, are up 15.6% in that span.
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