Disney Is Considering Thousands of Job Cuts in a Reported Cost Plan, Bloomberg Reports

Walt Disney is considering cutting thousands of jobs and has asked some managers to target 20 percent in annual cost savings, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters carried the Bloomberg report and said it could not immediately verify it. Nothing in the reporting describes an announced layoff round: the discussions are private, the people spoke because the talks are not public, and Disney did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The plan should be read as reported and under consideration throughout.

The savings could come from job eliminations as well as from expense reductions, the people familiar with the matter said. That distinction matters for the scale of any job losses. A 20 percent savings target for some managers does not translate into a fixed number of jobs, and no source has given an exact count of roles at risk. The only figures in the reporting are thousands of jobs at risk, the 20 percent target asked of some managers, and a workforce of about 231,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025.

Where the savings would go

Chief Executive Officer Josh D'Amaro aims to reinvest part of the savings into film and TV programming, technology, and the theme parks and cruise ship businesses, according to the report. Some Disney operations are expected to bear a larger share of the cuts than others. The company runs theme parks, TV networks and a movie studio, and the reporting does not say which operations would take the largest share.

The reported restructuring comes as D'Amaro works through a set of pressures named in the reporting: the growing use of AI, weaker box office revenue, stronger competition from streaming rivals and a slowdown in international attendance at the theme parks.

What Disney has and has not said

Disney did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours. The report did not specify how many jobs could be affected or when notices would go out. The company has promised double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share in the current fiscal year. Its next scheduled chance to address the report directly is its fiscal 2026 earnings report on November 17.

A company that has cut before

Disney has cut jobs repeatedly in recent years. The company removed about 7,000 roles in 2023 as part of efforts to save $5.5 billion under former CEO Bob Iger. It cut several hundred jobs in 2025, about 1,000 positions in April, and a few hundred employees across human resources and technology divisions were reported cut in September. The Wall Street Journal reported on October 1 that Disney was planning a restructuring of its TV division, along with cuts at the company's legal and global affairs unit. The Bloomberg report, if it leads to action, would be the next step in that run of reductions, but no step has been announced yet.