The media conglomerate, Disney, has announced a major restructuring exercise. According to which the company will reorganize into three divisions namely Disney Entertainment, ESPN, parks, experiences, and products unit. Disney Entertainment includes most of its streaming and media operations. The ESPN division includes the TV network and the ESPN+ streaming service. Disney will also be slashing 7,000 jobs from its workforce, which reportedly represent 3.2pc of the total workforce.
This is the third restructuring in the past five years. Reportedly, the company has plans to cut $5.5 billion in costs, including about $3 billion in content costs and make its streaming business profitable.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has appointed Dana Walden and Alan Bergman to head a Disney Entertainment business unit. ESPN’s operations, including ESPN+, will be a separate unit
At the same time, streaming service Disney+ lost a net 2.4 million subscribers in the last three months of 2022 which is regarded as Disney+’ first decline since launching in late 2020. Its Indian arm Disney+ Hotstar has also witnessed drop in subscribers to the tune of 3.8 million
The Walt Disney Company under its CEO Bob Iger, who made a comeback after a high voltage boardroom drama, is under pressure to deliver better results in the upcoming quarters. The layoff clearly is aimed in that direction. The impact of its Indian operations, Disney Star India, is not known immediately.
