Disney cuts about 300 jobs in HR and technology in latest layoff round

Disney is laying off around 300 employees in its latest round of job cuts since Josh D'Amaro became CEO earlier this year, CNBC reported on September 29, 2026, citing a person familiar with the matter. Deadline, which also reported the layoffs, said the cuts affect a couple of hundred employees.

Who is affected

According to CNBC's source, the majority of the cuts are in human resources and technology roles. Deadline reported the same focus on tech and HR, and said that Disney's TV division, Disney Entertainment Television, is not affected by this round, according to its sources. Deadline said the motion picture studio is also said to be primarily exempt.

Disney has not publicly announced the number of jobs cut. Both outlets based their reports on people familiar with the matter.

A year of cuts

This is not the first round of reductions in 2026. CNBC reported that in April, Disney planned to eliminate as many as 1,000 roles as D'Amaro consolidated the company's enterprise marketing division, and that further cuts were made in July across corporate functions, including at Pixar, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and the studios.

CNBC said Disney warned about the latest reductions in its August earnings report, when it said it was evaluating ways to reduce costs. Deadline reported that the cuts follow a voluntary early retirement offer to employees at or above director level who are at least 50 years old and have worked at the company for at least 10 years.

Inside the company

Deadline reported that talk of layoffs had circulated internally since a September 18 memo from Chief Legal and Global Affairs Officer Horacio Gutierrez. In the email, obtained by Deadline, he warned of "hard choices" about "staffing investments" and said his division would become "a much smaller organization."

According to Deadline, Disney had 231,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025: 172,000 in the United States and 59,000 elsewhere.

Why it matters

Disney is one of the largest US employers. The latest cuts are small next to its total workforce, but they extend a year of reductions under its new chief executive, now reaching shared back-office functions such as HR and technology.

Sources

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.