Since a wave of job cuts hit Disney’s streaming division in 2022, more than 10,000 employees have been laid off at the company, including another 300 in HR and tech divisions this past week. Disney Entertainment President and CCO Dana Walden said the cuts are needed for the “evolution” of the entertainment business, which has shed tens of thousands of jobs throughout the industry over the past several years.
“It is extremely painful. We’ve exited colleagues who I’ve worked with for most of my career, it is in many ways a harsh reality. But I’m really grateful to [CEO Josh D’Amaro] and to Sonia Coleman, our head of HR. This past round was a voluntary retirement program, which was extremely generous, and gave a number of our long tenured executives agency and the opportunity to make their own decisions around whether the timing was right to leave or to stay, knowing that this evolution it will never stop,” the exec said at Thursday’s Bloomberg Screentime conference.
“Technology set their sights on our business, and we must survive and thrive and grow,” Walden added.
In previous rounds of layoffs in 2026, Disney laid off approximately 1,000 members of its marketing teams and then another round in entertainment departments such as ESPN, National Geographic, and Pixar, the latter of which came in spite of the $1 billion-plus box office success of “Toy Story 5.”
Disney’s HR layoffs come as AI automation has led to job losses in human resources across various industries, as companies turn to AI to read resumes to expedite hiring processes. Bloomberg reports that HR jobs have fallen by 18% since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022.
Walden said she expects that layoffs will continue across Hollywood in the years to come. The next wave begins likely later this month with the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., as CEO David Ellison has promised $6 billion in efficiencies as part of the $111 billion acquisition of the company. Walden was asked what advice she would give to Warner execs as the mergers unfold.
“I would recommend that you approach these processes with compassion and try to do the best by your colleagues who are not going to have a long-term job at your company. Help them to find new jobs. Be great resources. Be of counsel. Set up programs to help them. You know, connect with other businesses,” she said. “Casey [Bloys, HBO chief and expected Paramount-Warner streaming head] is a compassionate and empathetic person, so I think that’ll come very easy to him.”
