Disney Continues Job Cuts in 2026 After Rounds Affecting Thousands of Workers
Key Facts
Disney continued cutting jobs during 2026, after carrying out successive rounds of layoffs affecting hundreds of employees and about 1,000 jobs in April, according to Variety and the Associated Press. In September, Variety described the round then under way as the third of the year under Chief Executive Josh D’Amaro, while Bloomberg News reported hundreds of workers were laid off, particularly in information technology and human resources. Bloomberg’s report published on November 3 about possible further layoffs did not include details that could verify the number of jobs or whether the company had confirmed them. The scale of any new round therefore cannot be determined from the information available here. The company’s shares closed at $110.94 on October 30, according to EL7 data.
In a shareholder letter on results for the quarter ended in June 2026, the company had pointed to its focus on cost cuts and said it was assessing options including reductions in headcount and selling, general and administrative expenses, according to Variety. In August, Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told investors the company was “in the middle” of a process to cut jobs and administrative expenses, Bloomberg News reported. These statements provide context for the rounds that followed during the year, but do not establish that the November report concerns an approved plan or define its targets. The available information also does not establish that any new cuts would improve margins or deliver specified savings. The available facts include no company announcement confirming the expected number of new layoffs.
These moves followed earlier rounds in 2026. In April, Disney began layoffs that the Associated Press expected could reach 1,000 jobs companywide, spanning traditional television, ESPN, the film studio, products and technology, and some corporate roles. Variety reported that the company eliminated about 1,000 jobs in April, most of them linked to the creation of a unified corporate marketing division. In July, it eliminated several hundred corporate jobs, affecting Pixar, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and the studios. These rounds show cuts extending across multiple roles and divisions, with each round differing in scope and location.
In September, the layoffs were concentrated mainly in human resources and information technology, across headquarters and various divisions, according to Variety. Bloomberg News described that month’s round as a cut affecting hundreds of employees, with a similar focus on information technology and human resources roles. At the end of the fiscal year in September 2025, Disney had about 231,000 full-time and part-time employees, according to Variety. That figure gives a picture of the workforce before the 2026 rounds, but does not establish the total number of jobs eliminated during the year. Details of any new layoffs, including the number of workers affected, remain unverified in the available facts.
The company’s job-cutting policy dates back to a restructuring announced in 2023 that included cutting about 7,000 jobs as part of a plan Disney said was aimed at saving $5.5 billion, according to the Associated Press. After Bob Iger returned to lead the company in 2022, Disney cut about 8,000 jobs in an earlier round, according to another report by the news agency. These figures place the 2026 rounds within a broader, multiyear effort to reorganize the workforce and cut costs. But what is known about the earlier rounds does not settle whether the company will announce another round or its scale. The available facts include no specific later date or new company guidance on next steps.