The announcement comes against the backdrop of corporate America continuing to make major cuts, including huge cuts last week at Walmart, Amazon and Bath & Beyond.
One of Disney’s biggest cuts and deals is the entire metaverse division. There are about 50 people according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. And while most people are still confused about what the “metaverse” is supposed to be, Disney has reportedly dropped plans to explore it.
Disney’s turnaround team was led by Mike White, who will remain with the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Disney’s metaverse division, which former CEO Bob Chapek called “next-generation storytelling,” was created in February 2022 when media companies became convinced that Facebook should be something. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a bold new plan to focus on the metaverse in October 2021, even changing the company’s name to Meta to highlight his commitment to that vision.
Disney then just phased in, laying off 7,000 workers, about 3% of its workforce, as part of a $5.5 billion cost reduction plan it announced last February.
The company’s chief executive, Bob Iger, stated in a message to his employees that he will begin teaching employees affected by the measure this week.
According to Iger, the second group of workers will be notified in April and at the beginning of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) the last layoffs will be shared with those affected.
“We have made the difficult decision to reduce our global ecosystem by approximately 7,000 jobs as part of a strategic realignment of the company, which represents cost-saving measures necessary to implement a more efficient, organized and streamlined approach to our business,” Iger wrote. .
Disney announced the launch in February to coincide with its fourth quarter results, in which it reported a loss of 2.4 million subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service.
In the past two weeks, Disney executives have been given medium targets to reduce their budgets and ecosystem.
The company’s accountants carefully examine it in an effort to find redundancies and eliminate expenses. To do this, the executors were ordered to prepare the financial affairs and to establish lists of employees.
