As the fiscal year winds down, Disney seems to be making more staff cuts. Now, they are targeting Disney Entertainment Television and ABC in Q4.
According to the LA Times, Disney plans to lay off about 2%, or 140 employees, in the media. This includes cuts to Freeform and about a 13% cut to National Geographic. Locally owned TV stations, as well as marketing and publicity teams, will also see cuts.
Over at ABC it is being reported that new staffers, even ones at Good Morning America (GMA) will also be facing layoffs.
The New York Post reports that Disney has mandated a $19 million reduction in costs at GMA specifically. These will need to be completed before September 30, the end of the fiscal year.
Sadly, the cuts from GMA will reportedly not come from the three show hosts—Robin Roberts, Michael Strahan, and George Stephanopoulos—even though they are reportedly making $17-$18 million each.
This is because they are under contract, and it is easier to just fire other employees behind the camera who make far less money.
ABC has been facing issues for some time now. Kim Godwin reportedly left a mess at the network when she was removed—I mean, when she retired. Since she is gone, this could help offset some of the $19 million Disney wants cut.
So far no one has been named as a successor for the job.
Why is this happening?
The current theory is that Disney is laying off more people to offset their streaming losses.
Bob Iger promised that Disney’s streaming services would reach profitability by the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year (which ends on September 30). Some are speculating that Disney won’t reach that benchmark unless it trims more jobs.
While Disney+, Hulu, and ABC received many Emmy nominations, that doesn’t necessarily mean profitability or subscriber boosts. Clearly, Disney is missing the mark somewhere, or we wouldn’t see more layoffs ahead of the next earnings call and the end of Q4 2024.
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