After announcing a company overhaul with plans to get rid of nearly 7,000 jobs, the Walt Disney Company is reportedly asking managers to tighten budgets and pick out employees to be laid off in the coming weeks.
It is unclear whether Disney will begin layoffs in “small waves” or cut thousands all at once, but the first wave of at least 4,000 layoffs is expected by April, according to Business Insider.
The job cuts were first announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger during the company's first-quarter earnings call in February, as Disney looks to cut $5.5 billion in costs, including $3 billion in content savings.
Disney also said it would be abolishing 7,000 jobs from its workforce. That would be about 3% of the roughly 220,000 people it employed as of October 1, according to an SEC filing, with roughly 166,000 in the US and about 54,000 internationally.
The media and entertainment giant said it would now be made up of three divisions: Entertainment, ESPN and parks and experiences. The reorganization has been underway since Iger returned to the helm of Disney, replacing his hand-picked successor Bob Chapek.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive