Disney will remove 7000 employees from its workforce, this decision was taken due to cost-cutting

America's leading mass media and entertainment company Walt Disney Co. announced the layoffs on Wednesday (February 8). According to reports, Disney has decided to lay off 7,000 employees, or 3.6% of its global workforce, in an effort to cut costs and make its streaming business profitable.
As of October 1, Disney has 2.20 lakh employees in its total global workforce, of which 1.66 lakh are in the US. According to reports, Disney wants to save $ 5.5 billion, i.e. about 45 thousand crore rupees in its cost by the retrenchment of employees. The company has taken this big decision just after the announcement of Disney's recent quarterly results.
In the first quarter ending December 31, 2022, Disney + Hotstar lost 3.8 million paid subscribers. The company has suffered a loss of $ 1 billion (8.25 thousand crore rupees) due to the decrease in subscribers. In this quarter, Hotstar has been able to add only 2 lakh new subscribers from the US and Canada. Currently, Hotstar has a total of 46.6 million i.e. 46 million subscribers.
This restructuring in the company is taking place under the leadership of Disney's new CEO Bob Iger. Disney now wants to focus more on its core brands and franchises. Disney's restructuring is being done in the face of slowing subscription growth and increasing competition for streaming viewers. Not only this, Disney's decision has come in response to criticism from activist investor Nelson Peltz. Nelson had said that the company was spending too much on streaming.
Under this new plan, Disney is restructuring into three segments. The restructuring includes Disney Entertainment, the sports-focused ESPN unit, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products unit. TV executive Dana Walden and film chief Alan Bergman will lead the entertainment division, while Jimmy Pitaro will continue to lead ESPN. Tv executive Dana Walden and film chief Alan Bergman will lead the entertainment division, while Jimmy Pitaro will continue to lead ESPN.
Bob Iger has taken over the reins of the company's CEO in November 2022. Earlier, Bob Iger was made CEO for the first time in 2005. Iger served as the company's CEO for 15 years before stepping down from his position in 2020. According to a Reuters report, Disney is restructuring for the third time in 5 years. Earlier, the company had decided to fire 32 thousand of employees in 2020.