Disney is planning to restructure its sprawling television operation, which is expected to result in hundreds of layoffs, according to a report.
Top executives at the House of Mouse are ironing out the plans, which will include consolidating the TV divisions and slashing jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, noting that the changes might not be finalized before the end of the year.
The plans mark the latest chapter in a series of reorganizations under CEO Josh D’Amaro, who nabbed the top job in March after overseeing the company’s parks division.
So far, layoffs have already hit marketing, Pixar, ABC News and ESPN, according to the Journal. Disney slashed more than 300 jobs on Tuesday, with those cuts mostly affecting the human resources and information technology departments.
Cuts are also underway in Disney’s legal and global affairs unit, which houses about 1,000 staffers. In a recent note to staff, Disney chief legal and global affairs officer Horacio Gutierrez said his team “will be a much smaller organization than it is today,” citing advances in automation.
A main goal for the reorganization of the TV unit is to restructure its business in a way that makes sense for streaming customers, rather than around brands created for TV, according to the Journal/
Disney President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden said on Thursday that the company is taking a number of divisions that have been run separately and “centralizing as a television business, not a bunch of silos.”
Speaking at a Bloomberg conference in Los Angeles, she said, “There is a need to constantly evaluate how you’re structured” and “how big is the organization.”
Walden’s lieutenant, Disney Entertainment Chairman Debra OConnell, is sprearheading that strategy. OConnell oversees a slew of properties including ABC Entertainment, 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox), Hulu Originals, Disney Kids & Family, National Geographic Content and Freeform.
The reorganization is expected to impact some of the execs running those units, sources told the Journal.
ABC News, which is also run under OConnell, is expected to get hit by layoffs, too, the newspaper reported.
As previously reported by The Post, ABC News’ “Good Morning America” — which lost its No.1 ranking in the ratings to NBC’s “Today” after 14 years — is expected to get a shakeup.
Neither Disney nor ABC News responded to requests for comment.