Proactive Investors - Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) will begin laying off staff this week, the first of three rounds of job cuts before the summer that will see 7,000 roles slashed, according to a memo from its CEO Bob Iger.
The cross-company job cuts are part of a broader suite of cost-cutting measures totalling $5.5 billion, including $3 billion in content spend.
“This week, we begin notifying employees whose positions are impacted by the company’s workforce reductions,” Iger said in the memo, per CNBC.
“Leaders will be communicating the news directly to the first group of impacted employees over the next four days.
“A second, larger round of notifications will happen in April with several thousand more staff reductions, and we expect to commence the final round of notifications before the beginning of the summer to reach our 7,000-job target.”
Iger also noted there were “challenges ahead” for Disney’s remaining employees.
“We have made the difficult decision to reduce our overall workforce by approximately 7,000 jobs as part of a strategic realignment of the company, including important cost-saving measures necessary for creating a more effective, coordinated and streamlined approach to our business,” Iger said.
“For our employees who aren’t impacted, I want to acknowledge that there will no doubt be challenges ahead as we continue building the structures and functions that will enable us to be successful moving forward.”