According to foreign media reports, Disney announced that it will lay off 7,000 employees worldwide, accounting for about 3% of its global workforce, the layoffs are part of the company’s $5.5 billion cost-cutting plan announced yesterday.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement that the company is undergoing a “major transformation” that management believes will improve the profitability of the company’s streaming business.
Disney is just the latest company to start mass layoffs, particularly at tech companies, with Amazon, Twitter, Microsoft, Meta and Google all laying off thousands of workers in recent months.
Disney reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 before announcing mass layoffs. For the quarter, the company’s revenue rose 8% from a year earlier to $23.512 billion, slightly above the $23.4 billion estimated by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Among them, the park, experience, and product business revenue was US$8.74 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21%
In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, the company earned $1.28 billion, compared with net income of $1.1 billion in the same period last year; adjusted EPS was $0.99, which was slightly lower than the $1.06 in the same period last year, but much better than the $0.78 USD expectations.
Disney+ had 161.8 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, down 1% since October 1, 2022. Disney said Disney+ subscribers declined for the first time, but its profitability improved.
