On June 2, 2025, The Walt Disney Company announced a significant round of layoffs affecting several hundred employees worldwide. This latest wave of job cuts spans multiple divisions, including film and television marketing, television publicity, casting and development, as well as corporate financial operations. While no entire teams are being eliminated, the reductions mark the fourth and largest round of layoffs at Disney within the past year, underscoring the ongoing challenges traditional media companies face in adapting to a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape.
Sources close to the company revealed that the majority of affected staffers are based in Los Angeles, particularly within Disney Entertainment Television. Despite the scale of the cuts, Disney has emphasized a surgical approach aimed at minimizing the number of impacted employees. A company spokesperson explained, "As our industry transforms at a rapid pace, we continue to evaluate ways to efficiently manage our businesses while fueling the state-of-the-art creativity and innovation that consumers value and expect from Disney." They added, "As part of this ongoing work, we have identified opportunities to operate more efficiently and are eliminating a limited number of positions today." However, Disney declined to specify the exact number of employees losing their jobs.
This round of layoffs follows a series of previous staff reductions over the past 10 months. In March 2025, Disney trimmed nearly 200 employees, representing almost 6% of the workforce in the ABC News Group and Disney’s entertainment networks, including Freeform and FX. In October 2024, the company shut down ABC Signature, folding its operations into 20th Television and consolidating ABC and Hulu Originals scripted drama and comedy teams, resulting in about 30 layoffs. July 2024 saw roughly 140 employees laid off, with National Geographic particularly affected. September 2024 brought about 300 layoffs across corporate departments such as legal, human resources, finance, and communications. These more surgical cuts contrast with the sweeping reductions Disney undertook in 2023, when CEO Bob Iger returned and set a goal to reduce costs by at least $7.5 billion, leading to the elimination of approximately 7,000 jobs that year.
Disney’s ongoing restructuring reflects broader industry shifts. The migration of audiences from traditional cable television to streaming platforms has forced entertainment giants like Disney to rethink their business models. Disney’s direct-to-consumer services—Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+—have been central to this transformation. After years of losses, Disney announced in fall 2024 that its streaming services had finally reached profitability, a milestone that came amid fierce competition and rapidly changing consumer preferences.
Despite the layoffs, Disney’s recent financial performance has been strong. The company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings in May 2025, with revenue reaching $23.6 billion—a 7% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Earnings before taxes soared to $3.1 billion, up $2.4 billion from the prior year. Streaming services, particularly Disney+, contributed significantly to this growth, with a reported increase of 126 million subscribers between the first and second quarters of 2025. Theme parks and sports divisions also delivered robust results, helping to offset some of the pressures on traditional television units.
CEO Bob Iger remains optimistic about Disney’s future. Following the earnings report, he stated, "Overall, we remain optimistic about the direction of the company and our outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year." For the fiscal year ending September 2025, Disney projects double-digit increases in operating income for its entertainment and sports segments, alongside 6% to 8% growth in operating income for its theme parks and consumer products businesses.
However, the layoffs underscore the tough realities Disney faces as it navigates a rapidly changing media environment. The company has acknowledged that it had been producing too many shows and movies in the past, a strategy that accelerated as Disney prepared to launch its streaming service in late 2019. This overproduction has since been curtailed as Disney refocuses on creating high-quality original content that meets its historic standards.
Traditional television ratings have suffered, particularly for ABC and Disney-owned entertainment channels. ABC’s prime-time schedule recently mustered only three shows in Nielsen’s top 20 rankings, with "Monday Night Football on ABC" ranking seventh with over 10 million viewers, "Saturday Night Football" ranking 18th with 7.4 million viewers, and the freshman drama "High Potential" placing 20th with an average audience of 7.1 million. The company’s sports division, including ESPN, was spared from the layoffs as it prepares for the high-stakes launch of a standalone ESPN streaming service in fall 2025.
The layoffs come amid a broader wave of job cuts across the media and entertainment industry. Competitors such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, Amazon, and Apple have also reduced their workforces in response to economic headwinds and shifting consumer habits. NBCUniversal, for instance, cut 54 jobs in Los Angeles in late May 2025, while Six Flags Entertainment Corp. laid off 140 workers.
Disney’s stock, which had risen 21% following the strong earnings report, closed down slightly on June 2, 2025, at $112.95, reflecting the market’s mixed reaction to the layoffs. The company’s efforts to balance cost-cutting with growth initiatives highlight the complex challenges faced by traditional media giants as they adapt to the streaming era.
In summary, Disney’s latest layoffs mark a significant moment in its ongoing transformation. While the company continues to invest in streaming, theme parks, and sports, it must also streamline operations and reduce costs in traditional divisions grappling with declining audiences. As Bob Iger noted, the company is striving to operate more efficiently while maintaining the creative innovation that has long defined the Disney brand. These changes signal a new chapter for the entertainment powerhouse as it navigates the future of media consumption.
