Disney layoff: Employee pens emotional note on first promotion, first job loss. 'Times are tough'

Disney has been in a cost-cutting mode since Bob Iger returned as CEO in 2022. (Image credit: AFP)

Disney has laid off about 300 employees across multiple corporate departments as part of a “cost-saving initiative”. The recent round of job cuts has affected human resources, legal, and finance, among other departments. This also comes after Disney let go about 140 employees in its television division, in July.

One of the employees affected by the recent layoff has opened up on LinkedIn about how her job at Disney was defined by "firsts": "First full-time job after college. First promotion. First acquisition. First auction pre-empt. First starred review... First state award... And now, the 'first' that everyone hopes not to experience: first layoff," Christine Collins, an acquiring assistant editor with the company in New York, wrote.

Describing how the development was shared with her, Collins said that the announcement was made in a surprise same-day meeting. "I was brought into a conference room with HR and a manager several levels above me, and was told that Disney was eliminating my position."

She had worked with the company for five years.

"It’s no secret that times are tough right now—for children’s publishing and also for the wider world... While it wasn’t my choice to leave, it is comforting to know I am leaving Disney•Hyperion a different person than who I was when I arrived," Collins said, highlighting how she went from being a "publishing hopeful to an accomplished editor".

Cost-cutting mode

Commenting on the job cuts, a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline: “We continually evaluate ways to invest in our businesses and more effectively manage our resources and costs to fuel the state-of-the-art creativity and innovation that consumers value and expect from Disney. As part of this ongoing optimisation work, we have been reviewing the cost structure for our corporate-level functions and have determined there are ways for them to operate more efficiently.”

Disney has been in a cost-cutting mode since Bob Iger returned as CEO at the end of 2022. The layoffs began in 2023 and affected 7,000 employees over multiple rounds, the publication reported.