Disney Cutting Hundreds of Jobs

Disney is set to lay off several hundred employees worldwide, targeting a small number of roles in marketing for film and TV, publicity, casting, development, and corporate financial operations. According to an insider, these cuts, part of Disney’s ongoing cost-saving efforts, will not eliminate entire teams, as reported by TheWrap.

This marks Disney’s fourth and largest round of layoffs affecting its TV operations, following 140 jobs cut at Disney Entertainment Television in July 2024, 75 at ABC News and its owned stations in October 2024, and nearly 200, or about 6% of ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks staff, in March 2025.

In October 2024, Disney restructured by merging ABC Entertainment and Hulu’s scripted drama and comedy teams under Simran Sethi and integrating ABC Signature into 20th Television under president Karey Burke.

The layoffs follow Disney’s strong Q2 2025 performance, reporting a $3.28 billion profit and 7% revenue growth to $23.6 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations. The entertainment segment, including Disney+, Hulu, and linear networks, saw a 9% revenue increase to $10.68 billion and a 61% operating profit rise to $1.26 billion, driven by gains in direct-to-consumer and content sales. Disney+ and Hulu together achieved a $336 million operating profit, up from $47 million the previous year, with the three streaming services (including ESPN+) boasting 204.8 million subscribers. Disney did not specify ESPN+’s profit status.

Conversely, linear networks revenue dropped 13% to $2.42 billion, though operating income rose 2% to $769 million. Domestic linear revenues fell 3% to $2.2 billion, with operating income up 20% to $625 million due to reduced technology, marketing, programming, and product costs, despite lower ad revenue from decreased rates and viewership. International linear networks revenue plummeted 55% to $223 million, with operating income down 84% to $15 million, impacted by the Star India transaction with Reliance Industries.