Disney Cutting Several Hundred Jobs; Pixar And National Geographic Among Most Affected Divisions
Disney is cutting several hundred positions, with Pixar and National Geographic among the divisions most affected by the move.
Tuesday’s layoffs come as ESPN also has let go of staffers as a result of a deal with the NFL.
Staffers at Disney Entertainment Television and Studios, among other units, have been notified, a person familiar with the situation told Deadline. CEO Josh D’Amaro, who addressed a prior round of cutbacks in a memo earlier this year, is not expected to issue any additional communication about today’s actions, the source advised.
Across Disney Entertainment Television, the number of jobs cut is just under 100, Deadline understands. Most of the affected employees were at National Geographic, both at the cable network as well as editorial and operations. About a dozen ABC News staffers have been impacted, with isolated layoffs in other DET divisions.
Nat Geo also was the hardest-hit brand during the 2024 DET layoffs with about 60 people, or 13% of its staff, let go.
Pixar cuts are numbered to be in the high single percentile of its 1,100 staff, which translates to around or under 100 pink-slips. Cuts are across production and operations. No word of notable EVPs or SVPs being let go yet. In May 2024, Pixar shed 14% of its employees, about 175, as it scaled back its direct-to-consumer series.
The Pixar layoffs come at a time when the studio is back in form on the feature side with original Hoppers and Toy Story 5 grossing close to $1.4 billion worldwide (compare this to Lucasfilm, which misfired this summer with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu tanking with $344M, the lowest-grossing Star Wars film ever).
“Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney,” D’Amaro wrote in the April memo to staff. “Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”
D’Amaro succeeded Bob Iger as CEO earlier this year. Disney has more employees than many of its media rivals, mainly due to its theme park and experiences operations, which rely on seasonal and temporary workers. As of the end of fiscal 2025, the company had 231,000 employees – roughly 172,000 in the U.S. and 59,000 elsewhere.
Anthony D’Alessandro contributed to this article.
