Entertainment giant Disney to cut 1,000 jobs as company restructures

The year has been hard for employees as job losses continue to mount every month. We are in the 4th month of the year, and employers have announced 217,362 job cuts so far to mark the first quarter of 2026, according to a Challenger report.

And yes, it is significantly down (around 56%) from Q1 2025, but it is a painful reminder of job instability, especially as people continue to recover from the 2025 layoffs.

As companies use consolidations and restructuring to overcome financial strains or increase cash flows, an entertainment giant is now also entering the list, with employees bracing for layoffs.

The Walt Disney Company is planning to eliminate around 1,000 jobs, according to a Wall Street Journal report, marking one of the first major moves under new CEO, Josh D'Amaro.

The news comes amid a broader wave of job cuts and restructuring in the US economy.

Disney+ and Hulu come together

The planned Disney cuts are expected to primarily affect the company's marketing division, which has been recently consolidated as part of a broader restructuring effort.

D'Amaro, who has been part of the Disney group for over two decades, stepped into the CEO role on March 18, succeeding longtime Disney CEO Robert A. Iger.

The move comes as Disney and its peers navigate a rapidly shifting entertainment industry, driven by:

• Rising costs
• Shifting consumer behavior
• Pressure on the traditional TV and film business
• Increased competition from streaming and digital platforms

The company has not yet made any official statements or declared a date for the layoffs. According to the report, the cuts can occur at any time in the coming weeks.

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Disney has also been working to integrate its streaming platforms, Disney+ and Hulu, with plans to bring them into a more unified experience.

Former CEO Bob Iger clarified the company's plans during the company's 2025 earnings call to bring the two under a single unified app by the end of 2026.

This can definitely mean good news for consumers who get to experience more content at a single price, from kids' content to live sports to entertainment, all under a single app. It also gives Disney a chance to provide ad sales to buyers as a single package.

The consolidation, along with the proposed layoff come at a time when job cuts are rising across the US economy.

In March, US-based employers announced 60,620 job cuts, up 25% from the previous month, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

And while the largest layoffs have been concentrated in the tech sector, the entertainment and leisure industry has also seen 4,354 layoffs so far in 2026, and the media sector has reported 1,492 cuts so far.

Disney joins industry-wide restructuring

The year was marked by rivalry between Warner Bros, Paramount, and Netflix, and could soon result in one of the biggest acquisitions in the entertainment sector. When and if Paramount and Warner Bros come together, the consolidation could also mean more layoffs.

It will also mean increased competition for Disney, which is trying to establish its digital footprint and is charting new waters.

Epic Games, which also laid off 1,000 employees in March due to decreased engagement in its flagship game Fortnite, is reportedly working on a new Disney-themed multiplayer shooter game.

Disney acquired a $1.5 billion equity stake in Epic Games in 2024, and several reports suggest the company's interest in taking over the financially strained game maker to strengthen its push into interactive entertainment.

The Epic Games' move forward is also important as it comes on the heels of the closed Disney-OpenAI deal.

In December 2025, Disney made a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI to bring over 200 Disney characters to life through OpenAI's video generation app Sora. This investment has now ended, as Sora is no longer operational.

As part of its ongoing transformation to expand further into the digital space, Disney entered into an agreement with WEBTOON, a pioneer of webcomics, in September 2025, to develop a single digital comics platform.

Under this, over 35,000 comics from Disney's extensive portfolio, including Marvel, Star Wars, Disney, Pixas and 20th Century studios will be available with a subscription.

Josh D'Amaro, then Chairman of Disney Experiences, labeled the move as "opening doors to new audiences and deepening fan engagement."

While these job cuts represent a small portion of Disney's global workforce, they highlight broader pressures reshaping the future of entertainment and how it's consumed.

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This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 3:45 PM.