Walt Disney is planning to cut as many as 1,000 positions in the coming weeks, many of which will be made in the company's marketing department, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The marketing operation faced a significant consolidation in recent months, with entertainment, sports and experiences divisions unified for the first time under the direction of a new chief marketing and brand officer. The Journal said that plans for the coming job cuts began before Josh D'Amaro assumed his new role as Disney's chief executive officer in March. He took the reins from longtime leader Bob Iger in March, following a years-long CEO succession drama.
Iger himself issued a wave of about 7,000 job cuts three years ago, shortly after he returned for his second stint as CEO.
The planned layoffs could affect less than 1% of its total employees. Disney employed about 231,000 people as of the end of fiscal year 2025.
Disney's newly appointed chief marketing officer, Asad Ayaz, also plans to unite the company's marketing group and reduce expenses under code-named Project Imagine, the report added. Ayaz began to oversee a newly created company-wide marketing organization in January.
Disney joins a number of other media and entertainment giants rolling out layoffs, many of which came after the appointment of new leadership. For instance, hundreds of layoffs are expected at Sony Pictures Entertainment, less than a year into the tenure of new CEO Ravi Ahuja. David Ellison became CEO of Paramount Skydance in August, and layoffs at that company began in October, affecting more than 2,000 employees, and largely attributed to the company’s merger with Skydance Media that put Ellison in the top job.
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