Disney to cut 300 jobs, with HR and tech roles among those hit

Disney is set to cut around 300 jobs in its latest round of workforce reductions, with the majority of the roles reportedly coming from human resources and technology functions, according to CNBC.

The latest cuts come as the entertainment giant continues to reduce costs across the business under CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took over as chief executive in March 2026, succeeding Bob Iger.

Cost reduction drive

Disney had signalled further workforce reductions in its August 2026 earnings report, saying it was assessing several measures to lower costs and create capacity for investment in growth.

“We remain highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise to create incremental capacity to invest for growth and are evaluating a variety of levers, including reductions in labour and SG&A,” it said in the report.

“We are mid-stream in this work and will provide future updates on our progress.”

The latest reported cuts also follow a voluntary retirement offer extended to long-serving Disney employees at or above director level who are aged 50 or over and have been with the company for at least 10 years, according to Deadline.

Recent Disney cuts

The reported 300 job reductions add to a series of workforce cuts announced across Disney this year.

In April, Disney was reported to be eliminating about 1,000 roles, with most of the reductions affecting its newly consolidated marketing organisation.

Further reports in July indicated that several hundred employees had been affected by cuts across corporate functions at Pixar, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and the company's studios.

The latest round broadens the restructuring into functions including HR and technology, following earlier reductions across marketing and other corporate operations.

Disney's workforce

Disney employed 231,000 people at the end of fiscal 2025, according to figures cited by Deadline. Of these, 172,000 employees were based in the US, while 59,000 were located elsewhere.

The workforce reductions come as Disney continues to reshape its corporate structure and manage costs across its businesses, while seeking to direct additional investment towards growth.

US media job cuts

Disney's restructuring comes against a wider backdrop of job reductions across the US media sector.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas data showed that the US media industry had announced 4,908 job cuts through August 2026.

Across all industries, employers announced 529,914 job cuts through August 2026, down 41% from the 892,362 cuts announced during the first eight months of 2025.