Disney begins cutting 1,000 jobs under new CEO Josh D'Amaro
The cuts span Disney's traditional TV businesses, movie studio, and marketing department — the first notable layoffs since D'Amaro took over in March
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Disney $DIS began laying off about 1,000 employees this week, the first substantial round of job cuts since Josh D'Amaro became CEO of the company in March.
According to The Associated Press, the job cuts will touch ESPN and Disney's other legacy TV operations, the film studio, the marketing division, and parts of the corporate and technology workforce. Among the divisions hit is Marvel Studios, where according to Forbes, almost the entire Academy Award-winning visual development team has been let go. A handful of full-time employees will remain to bring in outside contractors as individual projects require, replacing the broader team that had handled that work. According to Forbes, people with knowledge of the situation pointed to two factors behind the Marvel cuts: a previously announced pullback in how many projects the studio has in development, and Disney's companywide push to reduce costs.
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In a memo to employees obtained by the AP, D'Amaro said the company has spent several months examining how to streamline operations. "These decisions are not a reflection of their contributions, or of the overall strength of the company," he wrote. "Rather, they reflect our continual evaluation of how to more effectively manage our resources and reinvest in our businesses."
A significant share of the cuts will fall on Disney's marketing department, according to CNBC. Overseeing that department is Asad Ayaz, who in January was elevated to a newly created role as chief marketing and brand officer — the first executive to hold authority over marketing across every Disney division simultaneously. The consolidation plan carries the internal code name Project Imagine, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On March 18, at Disney's annual shareholder meeting, D'Amaro stepped into the top job, taking over from Bob Iger at the conclusion of a drawn-out process that had involved competing candidates and a significant overhaul of the company's structure. Plans for the current layoffs were set in motion before D'Amaro formally assumed the role, according to The Wall Street Journal. Disney has also been working with consultants from Bain & Co. to guide its cost-cutting strategy, The Journal noted.
The current cuts are considerably smaller than those carried out under Iger, who oversaw successive rounds of reductions between 2023 and 2025 that totaled about 8,000 jobs and generated roughly $7.5 billion in savings. As of late 2025, Disney employed about 230,000 people.
The broader Hollywood industry has also been contracting. Elsewhere in the industry, according to the AP, Paramount $PARA Skydance has trimmed its workforce by 2,000 positions following David Ellison's acquisition of the studio, while Sony $SONY Pictures Entertainment announced last week that it too would be shedding hundreds of jobs.