Disney is cutting several hundred positions, with Pixar and National Geographic among the divisions most affected by the move.
Tuesday’s layoffs come as ESPN also has let go of staffers as a result of a deal with the NFL.
Staffers at Disney Entertainment Television and Studios, among other units, have been notified, a person familiar with the situation told Deadline. CEO Josh D’Amaro, who addressed a prior round of cutbacks in a memo earlier this year, is not expected to issue any additional communication about today’s actions, the source advised.
Across Disney Entertainment Television, the number of jobs cut is just under 100, Deadline understands. Most of the affected employees were at National Geographic, both at the cable network as well as editorial and operations. About a dozen ABC News staffers have been impacted, with isolated layoffs in other DET divisions.
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Nat Geo also was the hardest-hit brand during the 2024 DET layoffs with about 60 people, or 13% of its staff, let go.
Cuts at Pixar come at a time when the studio is back in form on the feature side with original Hoppers and Toy Story 5 grossing close to $1.4 billion worldwide (compared to Lucasfilm which misfired this summer with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu tanking with $344M, the lowest grossing Star Wars film ever). While Pixar scaled back 14% (or 175 employees) back in May 2024, the percentile cuts we hear this time are in the high single digits off the studio’s staff which numbers around 1,100 employees. Those being pink-slipped are across production and operations. No word of notable EVPs or SVPs being cut yet.
“Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney,” D’Amaro wrote in the April memo to staff. “Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”
D’Amaro succeeded Bob Iger as CEO earlier this year. Disney has more employees than many of its media rivals, mainly due to its theme park and experiences operations, which rely on seasonal and temporary workers. As of the end of fiscal 2025, the company had 231,000 employees – roughly 172,000 in the U.S. and 59,000 elsewhere.
Anthony D’Alessandro contributed to this article.
