Disney slashes 300 jobs this week as CEO Bob Iger continues belt-tightening

Disney is reportedly eliminating 300 corporate jobs this week — the latest round in a broad cost-cutting initiative by Chief Executive Bob Iger.

The job cuts — which began Wednesday and will continue Thursday and possibly Friday, according to a Deadline report — affect positions in the US and impact the Mouse House’s corporate operations, according to the entertainment news outlet.

Affected departments include human resources, legal, finance and communications.

Deadline said the parks division, ESPN and Disney Entertainment were not hit with cuts this round.

The Burbank, Calif.-based company was last hit with layoffs on July 31.

At the time, roughly 140 people were let go in Disney’s entertainment television unit, which represented 2% of the division’s workforce.

In May, Disney animation studio Pixar reduced its staff by 14%, eliminating about 200 jobs.

Disney has been trimming costs since Bob Iger returned as CEO in late 2022.

Disney’s big first wave in 2023 slashed roughly 7,000 jobs over multiple rounds, which represented about 3.2% of the company’s total global workforce.

“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,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline.

“As part of this ongoing optimization 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,” the rep added.

Disney did not immediately respond to requests seeking further comment.

The cuts come amid belt-tightening in the media industry, which has been squeezed by the lackluster advertising market and the acceleration of cord cutting.

Earlier this week, Paramount Global enacted phase two of its plan to slash 2,000 jobs or 15% of its workforce ahead of its planned merger with Skydance Media, which is expected to be finalized next year.