Disney is once again considering cutting thousands of jobs, continuing a year of repeated layoffs and broader employee reductions under new CEO Josh D’Amaro, even as the company commits billions of dollars to shareholder payouts and allocates substantial sums for new AI hires and technology upgrades.
According to Bloombergtop executives have asked some managers to find ways to reduce annual costs by 20 percent. Those savings, the report said, could come from job cuts and other spending reductions, with some parts of the business expected to be hit harder than others. To be clear, the 20% refers to cost savings and not a company-wide goal to eliminate 20% of Disney’s workforce.
D’Amaro reportedly intends to reinvest some of the savings in film and television programming, technology, theme parks and cruise ships. Disney declined to comment to Bloomberg. Neither the report nor Disney specified the exact number of jobs to be cut or which operations will be most affected by the layoffs.
For Disney employees and the industry as a whole, this is becoming a painfully familiar routine in 2026. The company cut about 1,000 positions in April and hundreds more in July, followed by additional cuts in September. These layoffs followed job losses linked to the consolidation of its marketing operations announced in January.
At Pixar alone, about 150 employees lost their jobs in July, despite a strong box office year led by Hoppers And Toy Story 5.
Remaining employees also saw their benefits take a hit. Starting in 2027, Disney will limit health coverage for spouses when they can get insurance through their own employer, even if the alternative offers less favorable benefits.
This year’s steady cuts have hardly coincided with an economic downturn at Disney. During its fiscal third quarter, Disney reported revenue of $25.25 billion, up 7%, and operating income of $5.6 billion across all of its business segments, up 21%. It also raised its annual share buyback target to at least $9 billion.
And last month, reports emerged that Disney planned to spend around $180 million over three years to compensate and retain 66 recruits from bankrupt chatbot company Character.AI, following its former CEO, Karandeep Anand, at Disney. This followed a proposed billion-dollar investment in OpenAI, announced alongside a Sora licensing deal in December 2025, which collapsed just over three months later, before any money changed hands.
We haven’t seen anything to establish that AI spending is directly driving these layoffs, but the company’s priorities are clear: where it is increasing spending and where it has chosen to cut costs.
There is money to reward shareholders, recruit AI talent and invest in technology. For the employees who already make its films, work in its parks, run its operations and support its businesses, the directive is crystal clear: do more with less. At least for those who are still here.
Gn bussni
