Overview
- Tech and streaming employees pressed leaders during a town hall Thursday for clear answers on possible new layoffs and said managers gave no firm timelines or confirmations.
- Reporting cited by employees says some managers were asked to identify up to 20% in annual cost savings, a target that could lead to thousands of additional job cuts if applied to head count.
- Workers raised alarm about the impact on core systems by asking how cuts would affect the Media Platform Alliance, the teams that run Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ delivery and metadata.
- Staffers pointed to Disney’s recent hiring of about 66 engineers from Character.AI for roughly $60 million after the new tech chief moved from that startup as a source of frustration over spending priorities.
- Morale is low and trust is weakened, employees reported posting complaints on the anonymous forum Blind, and investors will be watching upcoming fiscal fourth-quarter results for signals on the company’s cost plans.