Disney is cutting 7,000 jobs in the face of the economic crisis
The entertainment giant Walt Disney is planning significant staff cuts despite quarterly profits that were better than expected.
In the three months to the end of December, profits from the Disney+ streaming service increased 11 percent year-on-year to $1.3 billion.
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The US entertainment group Disney is laying off around 7,000 employees in view of the global economic crisis. This decision was “not taken lightly”, said company boss Bob Iger on Wednesday.
The 7,000 jobs correspond to about three percent of the global workforce – so the annual costs are to be reduced by 5.5 billion dollars. At the same time, the group presented business figures: According to this, the number of subscribers fell last year for the first time since the Disney+ streaming service was founded at the end of 2019.
In view of “global economic challenges”, Iger announced a major restructuring of the group. Disney recently earned better than expected: In the three months to the end of December, profits increased by eleven percent year-on-year to $1.3 billion. Revenue grew eight percent to $23.5 billion. Disney exceeded the forecasts of Wall Street experts.
Development during pandemic is reversed
With the layoffs that have now been announced, the entertainment giant is in line with similar decisions made by other large tech companies. In view of the crisis and high inflation, people around the world are apparently cutting back on non-essential spending. The background is almost everywhere the drop in demand due to the crisis. In addition, many tech companies hired massive numbers of people during the corona pandemic – this development is now being reversed.
According to the 2021 annual report, Disney had 190,000 employees that year.
AFP/SDA/sys
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