Disney set to cut thousands of jobs

The Walt Disney Company is set to make another round of job cuts this year, with thousands of positions set to go across its sprawling operations.

Details of the job losses, which were first revealed by Bloomberg, are yet to emerge but numerous divisions are set to be affected, including TV networks and studios.

Reports suggested that some managers would be asked to cut costs by up to 20%, but details of timing are not yet known. Disney employs around 230,000 staff globally.

Disney chief Josh D’Amaro, who took up the role at the start of the year, wants to invest the savings into TV and film, according to Bloomberg, as well as tech and its theme parks business.

D’Amaro has already overseen a slew of cuts this year, with job losses in April amounting to around 1,000 members of staff.

In July, around 100 staff were let go from Disney Entertainment Television, which houses production units and networks including ABC, FX and Nat Geo, and subsequent cuts - reportedly in the hundreds - then took place in September.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Disney was planning to restructure its TV division, with job cuts likely.

At the same time, Disney+ is set to ramp up its non-US originals, after the streamer’s profits more than doubled in Q3.

“Across the next three years, we plan to roughly triple the number of local original series on Disney+ to drive new international users to the platform and reduce churn,” D’Amaro wrote in his shareholder letter at the time.

His words underlined a similar commitment to ramp up programming spend in EMEA made by regional content chief Angela Jain earlier this year. Specifically, the platform will be targeting key territories like the UK for programming investment.