SAN FRANCISCO ― Entertainment giant Disney said it was laying off 7,000 employees, in CEO Bob Iger’s first major decision since he was asked back to lead the company late last year.
The layoffs follow similar moves by the US tech giants that have laid off thousands of workers as the economy sours and companies dial back a hiring spurt that began during the height of the pandemic.
“I do not make this decision lightly. I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide,” Iger said, according to AFP, on a call to analysts after Disney posted its latest quarterly earnings.
According to its 2021 annual report, the group employed 190,000 people worldwide as of October 2 of that year, 80 per cent of whom were full-time.
The storied company founded by Walt Disney also said its streaming service saw its first ever fall in subscribers last quarter as consumers cut back on spending.
Subscribers to Disney+, the streaming archrival to Netflix, fell 1% to 161.8 million customers on December 31, compared to three months earlier.
Analysts had broadly expected the decline, and the Disney share price remained was 8 per cent higher in post-session trading.
Iger, who stepped down as CEO in 2020 after nearly two decades helming the storied company, was brought back after the board of directors ousted his replacement Bob Chapek. It was disappointed in his ability to rein in costs.
In its own effort to rein back costs, Netflix has begun a campaign to stop password sharing among its hundreds of millions of global subscribers.
Netflix revealed it had begun to crack down on password sharing in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain as it continues to roll out its new policy worldwide.
Discussion about this post