Disney Plans TV Business Restructuring With Hundreds of Layoffs Under CEO Josh D'Amaro

Walt Disney is planning a sweeping reorganization of its television division that is expected to result in hundreds of job cuts and the consolidation of units that have long operated as separate silos, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Each unit currently maintains its own executive layer overseeing programming for Disney+, Hulu, and linear channels, and those leadership positions are among the roles expected to be affected. ABC News, which falls under the same umbrella, faces further reductions as well.

Disney President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden, speaking at a Bloomberg conference Thursday, described the rationale in plain terms: the company will be taking divisions that have run separately and centralizing them as one television business rather than a collection of fiefdoms. Walden called the layoffs "extremely painful" while stressing that Disney is not firing people every six months, but that there is a constant need to evaluate how an organization is structured. Senior executives are still finalizing details, and the plan may not be completed before year-end.

Disney shares fell Thursday, contributing to a roughly 150-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The restructuring is the latest cost-cutting move under new CEO Josh D'Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger. Former CEO Bob Chapek, speaking publicly this week, said he felt Disney had erased him from its history and described his firing as "tremendously unfair," adding that a reconciliation with Iger was something he would not forecast.

On the content side, Walden said at the Bloomberg event that she would offer "a lot of money" to Bluey creator Joe Brumm to keep the popular animated series within Disney's orbit. Separately, Disney announced a partnership with Indonesia's Vidio for a new subscription bundle, and analysts flagged the company's expanding cruise ship business as a potential growth driver for investors heading into fiscal 2027, which began this week.