Walt Disney, who gave the world many memorable cartoon characters, is now preparing to take a big decision. The company is not making much profit these days, due to which the company has decided to lay off employees at the corporate level to reduce costs. This decision has been taken amid the company’s efforts to streamline operations and improve financial performance amid a challenging market environment.
“As part of this ongoing optimization work, we are reviewing the cost structure for our corporate-level functions and have determined there are ways for them to operate more efficiently,” the company said in an emailed statement on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
According to the Deadline website, about 300 legal, human resources, finance and communications jobs have been affected. Also, departments such as ESPN and theme parks were not included in this latest round of layoffs.
Disney rolled out cost-cutting measures last year that ultimately resulted in the elimination of 8,000 positions. Like its rivals Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., the company has faced challenges from declining traditional television viewership as viewers increasingly turn to streaming services.
Meanwhile, Paramount Global announced on Tuesday that the entertainment firm plans to lay off a number of employees amid challenging times. The decision will affect multiple divisions across its portfolio, which includes major networks such as CBS, Comedy Central and MTV.
In a memo sent to employees, Paramount co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins said these measures are necessary to ensure the long-term success of the company. “We are taking these steps to position Paramount for continued success, and 90 percent of these cuts will be complete after today,” the memo reads, Variety reports.
Layoffs have become a cruel reality in most industries across the world today. Irrespective of the sector, job cuts are leaving employees uncertain about their future. Most of these job cuts are due to the after-effects of the pandemic, which has left businesses struggling to return to profitability.
