Another round of layoffs at The Walt Disney Co. will begin this week, and it will impact every corner of the company.Disney sources say the latest round will begin today and continue through Thursday, and will include cuts at Disney Entertainment, ESPN, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products and elsewhere, impacting employees in California, New York, Connecticut and other places. The frontline operations roles at Disney’s theme parks and hotels are not expected to be impacted.By the end of the week, the company is expected to have cut about 4,000 jobs, the sources say. In February, Disney CEO Bob Iger told employees and Wall Street analysts that the company expected to eliminate a total of 7,000 roles. A third round of cuts is expected before summer.In a note to staff Monday morning, Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman acknowledged the cuts coming this week, and added that “restructuring in various businesses will continue for the next couple of months, and we do anticipate there will be further impacts before the summer, as previously shared.”“Each team is in a different place in this process, and your leaders will be sharing more context for your group soon,” their memo added.In a separate memo Monday, ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro also disclosed the cuts to staff, writing that “we must further identify ways to be efficient and nimble.”“We will continue to focus our workforce on initiatives that are most closely aligned with our critical priorities and emphasize decision-making and responsibility deeper into the organization,” he added.An ESPN source said that on-air talent is not expected to be significantly impacted by the cuts this week or the third round in the coming weeks. Rather, the company is expected to take a close look at its on-air talent roster after the third round of layoffs, choosing not to renew some deals, cut others, or make other tweaks to its roster of hosts and contributors.The first round of layoffs began in March, with the company targeting specific roles and departments that were ripe for trimming or elimination. That included the company’s “metaverse” division (technically called next generation storytelling), which had been a pet project of former CEO Bob Chapek.It also included Marvel Entertainment, with Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter exiting, and what was left of his empire moved into other Disney divisions. Disney’s TV production and acquisitions departments were impacted, while ABC News restructured its senior leadership under Kim Godwin.While Disney will be more than halfway to its target of 7,000 jobs by the end of the week, there are still many decisions that need to be made. And the cuts this week are expected to be deep.“These are hard decisions and not ones we take lightly — but every decision has been made with considerable thought, and we are doing everything we can to make sure this process is conducted with respect and compassion,” Walden and Bergman added. “The senior leadership teams have been working diligently to define our future organization, and our biggest priority has been getting this right, rather than getting it done fast. We recognize that it has been a period of uncertainty and thank you all for your understanding and patience.”
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