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Disney is set to axe 7,000 people as part of a US$5.5bn cost cutting plan following its Q1 results. The operator’s parks however continue to thrive with the Parks, Experiences and Products division performing strongly
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 09 Feb 2023
Bob Iger has said Disney will cut around 7,000 jobs in a major restructuring of the company Credit: Disney
Bob Iger has said that Disney will cut about 3% of its workforce - around 7,000 people - as part of a broad restructuring process expected to save the company about US$5.5bn (€5.1bn, £4.5bn) over the next several years.
According to Disney CEO Iger, the restructuring will help to revive the company’s creative output and make its Disney+ streaming service profitable.
Iger’s predecessor, Bob Chapek, left Disney last year after the streaming side of Disney’s business posted a US$1.5bn (€1.4bn, £1.2bn) quarterly loss. According to this week’s earnings report, those losses have now been cut by about US$400m (€371.1m, £328.4m) - exceeding the target set by the company last year.
“We’re going to look at the volume of what we make and be fairly aggressive at better curation when it comes to general entertainment,” said Iger.
Despite the streaming losses, overall, Disney saw revenue increase by 8% to US$23.5bn (€21.8bn, £19.3bn) and net income increase 11% to US$1.3bn (€1.2bn, £1.06bn)
Through the restructuring, Disney will now be made up of three divisions, which includes Disney Entertainment for media and streaming; ESPN for the TV network and ESPN+; and Parks, Experiences and Products for its theme parks, other visitor experiences and retail offerings.
Disney’s Parks, Experiences and Products continue to perform strongly for Disney, with the division seeing an increase in revenue to US$8.7bn (€8.07bn, £7.15bn). Of that figure, more than US$6bn (€5.6bn, £4.9bn) came solely from its parks.
“I am very, very bullish about our parks and not just because of the COVID recovery,” said Iger.
“Demand on the parks is extraordinary right now. If you look at our results this past holiday season, we actually reduced capacity, which certainly improved the guest experience and we are able to maintain profit with a very robust bottom line.
“We’re going to continue to look at opportunities like that, which is essentially to simply get more creative in terms of managing the capacity that we have.”
Theme park
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