DOWNSIZING

Brutal Cost-Cutting at Disney Continues With Thousands of Layoffs

The firings will primarily affect employees at ESPN and Disney’s entertainment, parks, and experiences and products divisions.

The Happiest Place on Earth might be a little gloomier than usual Monday with Disney announcing its second wave of layoffs, aiming for 7,000 job cuts by the end of the summer. The cuts will primarily affect employees at ESPN and Disney’s entertainment, parks, and experiences and products divisions, though frontline theme park employees will not be affected, according to CNN. The firings, which will constitute 3 percent of the company’s total workforce, are part of a larger cost-cutting plan implemented by CEO Bob Iger, who took the reins after the ousting of Bob Chapek in November. “The difficult reality of many colleagues and friends leaving Disney is not something we take lightly,” Iger said in a staff memo in March.