Three years, two CEOs, at least six rounds of layoffs... and one stock that still can't get off the floor.
On Monday evening, Bloomberg reported that Walt Disney is set to unleash thousands of job cuts, with the entertainment giant asking some managers to target 20% in annual cost savings. Citing "people familiar with the matter", the savings could come from job eliminations as well as other expense reductions, and some of Disney's operations, which range from theme parks to the TV networks and the movie studio, "will be affected disproportionately."
Disney declined to comment, but the timing speaks for itself: the company reports fiscal Q4 results in two weeks (Nov 17), and it has already promised investors double-digit growth in adjusted EPS in the current fiscal year. When the top line won't cooperate, well, there is always the cost line.
Regular readers know this is hardly a new chapter. When Disney picked parks boss Josh D'Amaro to replace Bob Iger back in February, the stock was already locked in a trough that started in 2022, and by April we were writing that there would be "no storybook ending" for the roughly 1,000 marketing staff on D'Amaro's first chopping block. This one is, by all accounts, much bigger.
The Unhappiest Place On Wall Street
First, some context on why Disney is reaching for the axe (again
