Disney Starts Another 2,500 Layoffs, Strategic WBD Cuts Loom As Max Debuts


Industry layoffs driven by the increasingly challenging economics of entertainment companies’ shift toward streaming and consolidation are continuing into the summer.

This week, Disney is starting the process of laying off some 2,500 more employees, while Warner Bros. Discovery is planning a small number of cuts, likely later this summer, according to reports.

After two rounds of layoffs in March and April that resulted in a combined 4,000 cuts, the latest round would bring the total close to the 7,000 cuts announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger as part of a workforce reduction and corporate restructuring plan to cut $5.5 billion in costs. The full 7,000 would amount to about 3% of Disney’s 220,000 worldwide employees.

Disney declined to comment on the CNN Business report.

At Warner Bros. Discovery — which today officially launches Max, the new streamer that expands HBO Max with Discovery and other content — cable employees are said to be bracing as the company prepares additional, limited layoffs designed to “refine” a few remaining “pockets” after a year of cuts and consolidation following the WarnerMedia/Discovery Inc. merger last April.

Last year, WBD slashed more than 1,000 jobs across its global footprint, including about 14% of HBO Max’s staff last summer, hundreds at CNN and about 70 at Atlanta studios, Turner Sports and Bleacher Report.

While the additional cuts could occur sooner, summer is the expected timing, according to Deadline sources. WBD did not officially respond to the report.

The refinements may in part reflect the complexity of meshing the functions performed by many teams across the numerous cable networks now under the WBD umbrella, including Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel, Animal Planet, Food Network and HGTV, TNT, TBS and truTV.

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