Walt Disney is preparing thousands of job cuts as part of a fresh cost-cutting drive, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Under the reported plan, some managers have been asked to find savings worth 20% of their annual costs. Those savings could come from eliminating roles, cutting other spending, or a combination of the two, and they are not expected to fall evenly across the company. Theme parks, television networks and the film studio are among the operations that could be hit harder than others, although the report does not name the divisions facing the deepest cuts.
Chief executive Josh D’Amaro is reported to want to reinvest part of any savings in film and television programming, technology, and the theme parks and cruise business. The company has promised Wall Street double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share in the current financial year, and its fiscal 2026 results on 17 November will be the next scheduled opportunity for its leadership to address the reported plan in public.
The report itself carries important caveats. It rests on unnamed people familiar with private internal discussions, Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report, and Disney declined to comment to Bloomberg and did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. No total number of jobs, no timetable for notices, and no breakdown by division has been given, so the scale and timing of any cuts remain unconfirmed.
The reported drive would continue a pattern of repeated restructuring at Disney in recent years. The company cut about 7,000 jobs in 2023 as part of a plan to save $5.5 billion, and it has trimmed further roles since, including around 1,000 jobs in April 2026, several hundred more in July, mainly at Pixar and National Geographic, and between 100 and 200 jobs in its Experiences division on 28 October. Disney employed about 231,000 people worldwide at the end of its 2025 financial year, so even a cut described as “thousands” would still leave the precise share of the workforce affected unclear until details are confirmed.
For workers and investors alike, the key questions now are which teams will bear the brunt, how quickly any savings will be realised, and whether reinvestment in programming, parks and cruises will follow as reported. Until Disney confirms the plan, those questions remain open — but the report signals that another significant round of cuts is being weighed at one of the world’s largest entertainment companies.
Note: the featured image is a file photo of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, taken in January 2005, not a photograph of any current Disney workforce announcement.
Sources: Reuters, “Disney eyes thousands of layoffs, managers asked to cut 20% in costs, Bloomberg News reports”, 3 November 2026, https://www.reuters.com/business/disney-eyes-thousands-layoffs-managers-asked-cut-20-costs-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-11-03/ ; Bloomberg News report as carried by Reuters, and WDW News Today, “Disney Reportedly Cutting Thousands of Jobs, Managers Asked to Cut 20% Annually”, https://wdwnt.com/2026/11/disney-reportedly-cutting-thousands-of-jobs-managers-asked-to-cut-20-annually/
