Disney Layoffs: Hundreds of Jobs Cut in Fourth Round As AI Reshapes Company

Walt Disney Co. has laid off a few hundred employees, mainly in its human resources and technology departments, in another round of corporate job cuts announced Tuesday, Sept. 29. The latest layoffs are part of CEO Josh D’Amaro’s effort to streamline the entertainment giant as it also prepares for wider changes driven by artificial intelligence.

The cuts come after Disney eliminated about 1,000 positions in April and reduced additional staff in July. The latest round is the fourth major round of layoffs at Disney this year, indicating that the company’s restructuring continues months after D’Amaro became CEO in March.

The company employed about 231,000 people worldwide at the end of fiscal 2025, including roughly 172,000 in the United States.

Why Disney is cutting more jobs

Disney’s latest cuts are concentrated in corporate functions, particularly human resources and technology, according to people familiar with the situation cited by Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter.

The company has been trying to streamline its operations and increase efficiency while directing investment toward areas it considers important for future growth.

In an August shareholder letter, D’Amaro and Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said the company was “mid-stream” in its cost-reduction efforts.

Disney said in the letter that it was “highly focused on operating with speed and agility and improving productivity and efficiency across the company so we can invest in accelerating growth.”

The company also said the effort had already produced “meaningful reductions to cost, including labor.”

Disney has already cut about 1,000 jobs this year

The latest layoffs follow several earlier rounds of reductions.

In April, Disney eliminated about 1,000 positions across marketing and other parts of the business, including its studios and television operations, ESPN, products and technology, and some corporate functions.

Further cuts followed in July, affecting corporate departments as well as Disney Entertainment Television and film studios. Pixar and National Geographic were among the areas affected during that round.

Last year, Disney also eliminated several hundred jobs in areas including film and television marketing, TV publicity, casting and development.

Prior to that, the company had announced a much larger restructuring in 2023, when it cut 7,000 jobs as part of a plan under former CEO Bob Iger to reduce costs by $5.5 billion.

AI is becoming part of Disney’s workforce overhaul

One of the more significant changes behind the restructuring is Disney’s growing use of artificial intelligence and other technology to change how corporate work is handled.

On Sept. 18, Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s chief legal and global affairs officer, told employees that the company was going through a “transformation process” that would require “hard choices.”

Gutierrez said the legal and global affairs department would become “a much smaller organization than it is today,” adding that some employees would be personally affected.

The memo described the changes as part of a company-wide workforce redesign involving the adoption of AI and other technologies. It did not explicitly say that AI alone was responsible for the job cuts. The distinction matters because Disney’s restructuring involves both cost reduction and changes in how work is organized.

What happens to Disney employees next?

The latest cuts do not appear to be the end of Disney’s restructuring. The company has indicated that it is still working through its cost-reduction program while trying to invest in areas it believes can support growth.

D’Amaro took over as CEO in March during a period marked by changes across the entertainment industry, including the growing role of AI, pressure on traditional film businesses and competition from streaming services.

Disney has not publicly disclosed the exact number of employees affected by the latest round or provided a department-by-department breakdown.

The latest cuts add to a year of workforce reductions rather than representing a single company-wide layoff. For employees, the bigger change is that Disney is continuing to redesign corporate operations while trying to reduce costs and use technology to handle more work.